Chapter 307: The Great Shortcomings and Virtues of the Song Dynasty

Yang Cha traveled to Guangxi relatively quickly. He first took the land route to Hubei, then took a boat southward, taking the Xiangjiang River and Lingqu Canal, and successfully arrived in Guizhou, the administrative center of Guangxi South Road, which was later Guilin.

Di Qing, on the other hand, set out relatively late. After all, he had to lead an army of 10,000 people, and not just cavalry, but infantry.

In addition to all kinds of firearms, artillery, small steel cannons, gunpowder supplies and other messy things, the baggage vehicles alone can carry thousands of carriages, which is naturally slow.

On the day before leaving, Zhao Zhen, Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan summoned Di Qing, first to encourage him, and secondly to give him face-to-face instructions, telling him how to eliminate the Li Dynasty and how to govern the Li Dynasty after it was eliminated.

In early March, almost as soon as Yang Cha arrived at South Guangxi Road and began to make preparations for the war, Di Qing led the firearms battalion and had also completed their preparations and planned to set off today.

In Chongzheng Hall, spring flowers bloom in March.

The warm sunshine outside the house shines in and shines on people, giving people a sense of laziness and comfort. The air seems to have a refreshing, comfortable and gentle feeling.

Several people were sitting in Chongzheng Hall.

This was not Di Qing's first time here, and he was not so reserved. He stood in the center of the hall and saluted Zhao Zhen above and Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan on the left and right.

"No courtesy, Di Qing."

Zhao Zhen said with a smile: "You are my personal guard, and you have made many military exploits. It not only makes me happy, but also makes me look good."

Di Qing hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, since I am a soldier of the Song Dynasty, I should do my best and die."

"good."

Zhao Zhen nodded with satisfaction, tried a few more words, and then finally said: "You are ready with your troops and horses, and you are about to go to war. I called you here today. In addition to routine instructions, there are more important things to say."

"Your Majesty, please make it clear."

Di Qing said.

Zhao Zhen said: "Let Zhiyuan talk to you."

Di Qing turned his head and looked at Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun said in a deep voice: "It is not difficult to eliminate Li Yue during this expedition. You only need to remember the following points."

Di Qing held his hands and waited for Zhao Jun's instructions.

Zhao Jun said: "First, you can only take the main roads and not the small roads. The mountains in the southwest are high and the forests are dense, making it easy to set up ambushes. It is difficult to use cannons on small roads, and once you are ambushed, it will be difficult to fight."

"yes."

Di Qing responded.

"Second, the local water must be boiled and not raw water to prevent epidemics."

"yes."

"Third, in spring and summer, mosquitoes increase in number, so we must pay attention to preventing mosquito bites. Bring mosquito repellent herbs to the military camp, set up camp every day, and burn them in the tent to drive away mosquitoes."

"yes."

"Fourth, your mission is to eliminate the effective forces of the Li Dynasty. Just attack their main force. As for the tribes under their command harassing the army, don't pay attention to them. Don't let them lead you. If they harass, let them harass. If they harass, If you don’t fight head-on, you will attack Shenglong directly!”

"yes."

"fifth."

Zhao Jun mentioned more than ten precautions in one breath, which seemed a bit like remote control with a bald head.

However, he did not directly interfere with Di Qing's tactics. He only told him the solutions to some problems and their strategic purposes. The specific combat methods and on-site layout were still handled by Di Qing himself.

After saying these precautions, Zhao Jun finally said: "Han Chen."

"Zhiyuan."

Di Qing listened carefully.

"With these things in place, it will not be difficult to eliminate the Li Dynasty."

"In this humble position, I believe in the magistrate."

"It's not difficult to eliminate it, but how to manage it is difficult."

"Please inform the court."

"It's very simple. After you eliminate the Li Dynasty, you can divide and conquer."

"Divide and conquer?"

"good."

Zhao Jun nodded: "The purpose of your trip is to completely eliminate the royal family of the Li Dynasty, break up their social structure into various tribal systems, support the local ethnic minorities with a small number of people to rise to power, and suppress their larger numbers. nationality."

"But General Mo has heard that the situation there is like that of the Song Dynasty. There are only their local Annan people and very few others."

Di Qing scratched his head.

Since he wanted to attack Vietnam, he naturally needed to know something about it, so he consulted a lot of information during this period.

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "We can support very few people. Even their local Annan people can divide and rule. For example, those who live by the sea can be given a new name. Those who live in the mountains can also be given a new name. Anyway, let's give them a new name. They just believe that they are different from other Annamites.”

Don't look at Vietnam as a big place. With the national power of the Song Dynasty, it would be easy to annex it. But in fact, Vietnam is easy to fight and difficult to govern, and it is almost difficult to be annexed by the Central Plains dynasty.

In fact, it was not just Vietnam. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, even Guangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian, which many people considered traditional Chinese areas, were very difficult for the ancients to govern.

This situation was not improved until the Southern Song Dynasty when Yiguan crossed south and Lingnan was developed on a large scale. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the southern coastal provinces were considered well managed.

The first reason is that Vietnam is too remote, and the place is poor and chaotic.

Considering this issue from an economic perspective, rebellion in one place is not terrible, and the court only needs to send troops to suppress it.

But if there are always rebellions in this place, the central government will need to send heavy troops to guard it. Moreover, this place is poor and far away from the central government, and the cost of sending troops is extremely high.

So it is not a place where the core ruling area loses money. It is normal for the Central Plains dynasty to give up.

The second is that Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country. Their ethnic composition is very similar to that of the Han people, with the Kinh ethnic group accounting for the vast majority of the population.

The proportion of other ethnic minorities is very small, and most of them are from other countries and ethnic groups from border areas, such as Han, Dai, Zhuang, etc. In terms of ethnic construction and identity, the Jing ethnic group occupies the absolute right to speak.

Once the main ethnic groups in Vietnam resist, it will easily lead to resistance throughout Vietnam, and the local rule of the central court will be disintegrated, making it impossible to effectively govern.

Combining these two points, this is the reason why Vietnam has never been able to integrate into China, although it has been included in our territory many times in history, and even they use Chinese characters and speak Chinese.

As for the method Zhao Jun told Di Qing, he had to talk about the European colonists who "lacked great virtue".

This invention can be said to be a sharp weapon against local ethnic minorities. Even if there are ethnic minorities, even a country with only one dominant ethnic group can be divided into two parts.

For example, the Hutu and Tutsi, the two protagonists in the Rwanda Genocide, were originally the same ethnic group. But after the European colonists arrived, they forcibly separated the two races and supported the smaller Tutsi as the ruling class.

As a result, the two sides began to break up. They were originally one nation, but they continued to fight among themselves. Under the internal friction, the foreign colonists benefited from it.

The Song Dynasty can naturally do the same.

Anyway, Vietnam has been integrated into China's territory since the Qin and Han Dynasties, but it can only be defeated and cannot be defended.

Although Zhao Jun's approach now lacks great virtue, you can just say whether he defended it or not.

After hearing this, Di Qing didn't quite understand the meaning or the consequences of doing so, but since it was the order from the magistrate, he would do it.

So he raised his hands and said, "Yes."

"alright."

Zhao Jun said: "Keep these things in mind, cooperate well with Yang Cha, and strive to change Vietnam's flag this year."

"yes."

Di Qing has been Zhao Jun's guard for a long time and has long been accustomed to obeying his orders.

"Old Fan, send Hanchen off."

Zhao Jun said to Fan Zhongyan.

Fan Zhongyan should also have some things to explain to Di Qing. Regarding military matters, let them talk about it.

Lao Fan nodded, stood up and said, "Hanchen, let me take you out of the palace."

"Thank you sir."

Di Qing responded, then asked Zhao Zhen and Zhao Jun to resign, and then left with Fan Zhongyan.

After they left, Zhao Zhen relapsed into his old habit and said worriedly: "Hanlong, isn't this a way to lead someone with great virtue? Isn't it inhumane?"

There are many videos of dead mice in his notebook. Zhao Zhen has watched a lot of them and already knows the routines of Western colonists.

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Dai Ying's routine is indeed inhumane, but I have to say it is really effective."

Zhao Zhen said speechlessly: "Will this cause strong resistance from the locals?"

"With the right approach, it should be fine."

Zhao Jun pondered: "And I don't think it's inhumane for us to use their methods, because our method is to use Chinese learning as the body and Western learning as the application."

"oh?"

Zhao Zhen became interested and asked, "What's the explanation?"

"It's simple."

Zhao Jun laughed and said: "Dai Ying only cares about killing, not burying. He only plays tricks. In the end, the locals kill each other. They only profit from it, and we..."

As he spoke, he also gestured: "We are in charge of killing and burying. Why do I say that the Song Dynasty can only be a one-pole hegemon in East Asia in the end? It's because we have a Confucian cultural circle, and Vietnam, He can barely be considered a little brother inside.”

"We first used the tactics of Western colonists to divide and conquer them. Then we vigorously promoted our Confucian culture and promoted the idea that the Annan people are also Han people, and they are Han people who took refuge in the south after wars in the pre-Qin period."

"We have the "Book of Han" as evidence for this. In the Qin, Han and Sui dynasties, it was the territory of the Han people, and the Annan people also called the Song Dynasty the Northerners. Everyone spoke Chinese and Chinese characters, and celebrated the Spring Festival. It’s all evidence.”

"As long as we promote education locally, compile teaching materials, and ingrain the idea that they are Han people and that the Song Dynasty is their motherland, we can achieve national integration and legally occupy Vietnam."

"To a certain extent, this is to shatter the structure of their national consciousness and integrate their national consciousness into the national consciousness of the Han people."

"The characteristic of the Han people is tolerance. Once their local Annan people begin to identify themselves as Han people, and our rule is no different from that of the local dynasty, there will no longer be any resistance to the Song Dynasty court."

"Now is the best time to annex them, because the national consciousness of Vietnam and North Korea has not yet become independent, or even established, and they themselves do not know who they are or who they are."

"If one day a group of people who speak the same words and use the same words as them stand up and tell them that you have the same identity as us. Then in the hearts of the Annan people who have accepted Chinese culture for thousands of years, it will be easy to accept and identify with them. these views.”

Zhao Jun still maintained a smile when he said these words.

In Vietnam, until the early twentieth century, Chinese language and Chinese characters were commonly used by all social classes.

Before that, there was no Vietnamese language or Vietnamese writing.

During the late Ming Dynasty, Western missionaries helped Vietnam complete the transformation of its writing and language through Romanization. Then, after Vietnam was founded in the 20th century, it was designated as the official language by Ho Chi Minh.

So strictly speaking, Vietnam at that time was like many countries in Southeast Asia influenced by Confucian culture at that time. They spoke Chinese, used Chinese characters, and even the feudal system was modeled after the Central Plains dynasty.

For example, the current official system of the Li Dynasty is very interesting. The prime minister is Pingzhang Jun Guoshi, the privy envoy and the general. Except for the general, the rest is no different from the Song Dynasty.

Based on these reasons, if Zhao Jun's method is really followed, the national consciousness of the Annan people will be completely broken, and their national consciousness will be woven into Han people who fled from the north to the south before they awaken.

Then they will indeed be easily assimilated.

The most important point is that Zhao Jun wants northern Vietnam, that is, the Red River Delta. He has no interest in southern Vietnam, so it is easier to realize his ideas on this basis.

Because northern Vietnam has been Chinese territory for most of the time since the Han Dynasty, and it was Jiaozhi County in the Han Dynasty. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was Songping County of the Southern Dynasty. During the Sui Dynasty, it became Jiaozhi County. In the Tang Dynasty, it became Jiaozhou General Administration and Annan Protectorate.

The entire northern Vietnam did not really become independent until the end of the Tang Dynasty in 939 AD, when the Central Plains Dynasty was torn apart and fighting everywhere in the early Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

In other words, it has only been a short hundred years since the official independence of northern Vietnam.

So whether it is from a historical or cultural perspective, the Song Dynasty has reasons and opportunities to annex northern Vietnam.

Here.

It has been the territory of the Han people since ancient times!