Chapter 347: The Tyrant

Li Yuanhao misjudged the military strength of the Song Dynasty and believed that the Song Dynasty did not have the ability to annex Xixia and Liao. Therefore, due to its strong national power, he did not take the initiative to attack Xixia and Liao.

But in fact it was not that the Song Dynasty did not have the ability to annex Xixia and Liao, but that Zhao Jun simply believed that it was not the right time to annex now.

First of all, the Song Dynasty was a period of rising national power. Once a war started, development in all aspects would come to a standstill.

Secondly, the Song Dynasty will only become more and more powerful.

In the Song Dynasty, 200 combat effectiveness points were used against a Liao state with 80 combat effectiveness points and a Xixia state with 50 combat effectiveness points. In the Song Dynasty, 1,000 combat effectiveness points were used against a Xixia state with 100 combat effectiveness points and a 60 combat effectiveness point. It was completely different. a concept.

The former can be destroyed, but it will also suffer a lot of losses.

The latter is like an adult bullying a two or three-year-old child, beating him without any ability to fight back.

Especially now that the Song Dynasty is developing breech-loading artillery and breech-loading rifled guns. Once the research and development is successful, the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty's army will once again increase by several levels.

Therefore, the smartest thing for the Song Dynasty to do is to wait for its strength to increase and easily eliminate these countries.

Rather than seeing that you can beat it, you go to fight excitedly. In the end, the situation was like that of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He defeated the Huns and his domestic economy was almost destroyed, and he gained a bad reputation for being militaristic.

Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had no choice at that time, it was already the most helpless move. But today's Song Dynasty has choices, and there is no need to send troops forcefully.

Therefore, the strategy of Song Dynasty developing quietly and waiting for opportunities is the best strategy.

But no matter what, although Li Yuanhao misjudged the military strength of the Song Dynasty, he was indeed right about one thing.

That is, the Song Dynasty will indeed not take the initiative to attack Liao and Xixia, and will have to rely on them to develop its economy.

So Li Yuanhao thinks.

Now that the Song Dynasty has no intention of taking the initiative to attack, it is very likely that when the Western Xia and Liao Kingdoms attack the Song Dynasty allies Qingtang and Goryeo, they will choose to support them.

Instead of directly attacking the hinterland of Xixia and Liao, they chose to use this method of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao to launch an all-out war with Liao and Xia.

What's more, even if the Song Dynasty proceeds like this, they are not the main force in attacking Qingtang and Goryeo anyway.

If they make such an arrangement, the main force will definitely attack Song State while guarding the border or waiting for Song State to rush for reinforcements. By then, even if Song State does not rush for reinforcements, they will have enough troops to defend.

Even at that time, the Song Dynasty could be accused of violating the covenant and provoking war without authorization, thereby gaining the upper hand in public opinion and righteousness.

After all, both Xixia and Liao had legitimate reasons to send troops. Qingtang and Xixia were feuding. It was impossible for Xixia to give up its offensive against Qingtang just because Qingtang formed an alliance with the Song Dynasty.

As for the Liao Kingdom.

As a vassal state that paid tribute to the Liao Kingdom, Goryeo had embraced the Song Dynasty in recent years, and began to disrespect the Liao Kingdom more and more. Not only did it build the Great Wall on the border, but it also paid much less tribute, which was also an excuse to start a war. .

So in general, no matter whether the Song Dynasty sends troops to attack or to rush for reinforcements, they have a back-up, and they can also occupy the rightful position, which is a matter of killing two birds with one stone.

Yelu Zong really thinks this strategy is quite good.

His thoughts are deeper, because in his opinion, the Song Dynasty is a bit unclear about its specific strength, especially since they still have so many artillery and troops at the border. If they forcefully attack them, they will definitely hit the steel plate.

The best way is to fully mobilize the Song Dynasty's army, as Li Yuanhao did, to avoid the opponent's main force and launch a surprise attack.

Even if the enemy is not asked to aid Goryeo, the Song Dynasty must be attracted to its own territory. In this way, whether the opponent is attacking or defending, it will naturally occupy the geographical advantage.

The Song Dynasty's artillery was strong, but so many artillery pieces he deployed in Yanyun were not simple.

"Um."

Considering this, Yelu Zongzhen nodded in agreement and said: "King Xia's strategy is indeed very clever. It makes the Song army exhausted. At the worst, it also allows them to attack our homeland. We have artillery cities, so it should be no problem to defend them."

Seeing that Yelu Zong really agreed, Li Yuanhao breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Now that we have decided on the strategy, let's talk about the specific time to send troops. I think it is better to do this as early as possible, in case the Song Dynasty's train is repaired to Hebei."

"Um."

Yelu Zongzhen nodded again in agreement.

He had already received the news that it only took the Song Dynasty a month to build a railway nearly a hundred miles long. If this speed were followed, it would only take one year to build from Daming Mansion to Zhuozhou.

This is a great threat to the Liao Kingdom. Once the railway is built successfully and once the Liao and Song Dynasties start a war, the Song Army will have a huge first-mover advantage.

In fact this is already considered slow.

For example, in history, when the United States was building the Pacific Railway, there was a section of 1,100 kilometers that took 14,000 Chinese workers four years to complete.

This means that these 14,000 Chinese workers need to repair an average of 23 kilometers per month.

It may not seem like much, but these 1,100 kilometers are not flat plains, but the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

The first 40 miles of the journey were spent traveling through high mountains. 50 bridges and more than 10 tunnels had to be built, which shows how difficult the construction was.

In the later plain areas, the construction speed was much faster, not only reaching 50-60 kilometers per month, but there was even a world record of laying track in 12 hours, equivalent to 16.41 kilometers.

Forty years after the completion of the Pacific Railway, when the Qing Dynasty began to build the Beijing-Hankow Railway, the Hebei and Henan sections were completed in less than two years. After that, there was no money and there were too many mountainous areas in Wuhan, so it took another five years one after another. The whole line will be opened to traffic in the year.

If the Song Dynasty did not build in the southern mountainous areas and first focused on the northern plains, then the speed of building more than 40 kilometers per month would really be nothing. It would take at most half a year to build a direct railway to Hebei.

Therefore, the Liao Kingdom had underestimated the speed of road construction in the Song Dynasty.

However, Yelu Zongzhen and the others responded in a timely manner. After considering the exaggerated speed of road construction, he made a decisive decision: "We must send troops this year."

"I think so too."

Li Yuanhao said.

"This year's summer and autumn are good times. I can hunt east."

Yelu Zongzhen narrowed his eyes and said: "In the name of Dongshou, we suddenly launched an offensive against Goryeo."

One more thing he didn't say was that the Jurchens in the Changbai Mountain area were also restless, and he could take advantage of this opportunity to subdue them.

It's just that Li Yuanhao is an outsider, so it is naturally impossible for him to expose the unstable factors in his country.

"Well, I will also launch an offensive against Qingtang at this time."

Li Yuanhao said.

"inappropriate."

Yelu Zongzhen thought for a while and said, "If we launch an offensive at the same time, the Song Dynasty will definitely be alert and cannot let them notice this."

"What does your Majesty mean?"

"I heard that you have been reorganizing your troops and raising food and grass in the country some time ago?"

"Nothing can be hidden from His Majesty."

Li Yuanhao smiled bitterly.

He was preparing to launch a sneak attack on Qingtang, but suddenly he learned that a steam train had appeared in the Song Dynasty, so he stopped his action and came to make an alliance with Yelu Zongzhen.

Otherwise, he would have crossed Qishan by this time and was preparing to attack Qingtang.

"I know, and the people of Song Dynasty may also know."

Yelu Zongzhen said calmly: "King Xia must be more careful this time. I'm afraid that if you send troops again like last time, they will take action immediately."

"No, even if they knew, they wouldn't be able to intercept me like last time."

Li Yuanhao said with a smile: "This time I plan to climb over Qishan Mountain, go around to the back of Qingtang, destroy Qingtang first, and then raid Lanzhou. As long as we control the important road of Lanzhou City, the Song people will not be able to attack."

"oh?"

Yelu Zongzhen glanced at Li Yuanhao in surprise, and then said: "King Xia is so courageous, but it is indeed a good strategy."

Although taking a long detour is a little more difficult, it can work wonders just like Deng Ai sneaked into Yinping.

In this way, even if Qingtang and the Song Dynasty knew that Xixia was gathering troops and might make big moves, they would probably only defend the front and ignore the rear, thus giving Li Yuanhao an opportunity to take advantage of.

"In this case, King Xia can take action immediately. When the Song Dynasty pays attention to the northwest, I will suddenly march on Goryeo and catch the Song Dynasty by surprise!"

Yelu Zongzhen said.

"good."

Li Yuanhao agreed.

Although he makes the first move, the pressure may be a little greater.

But Li Yuanhao knew very well that he had to bear this part of the pressure in order for the Liao Kingdom to deal a fatal blow to the Song Dynasty.

Otherwise, his attack power will be much weaker. If the Song Dynasty mainly attacks the Liao Kingdom and defends the Xixia Kingdom, then he may not be able to attack it, so there is no way.

"Then the plan has been finalized. During this time of spring and summer, King Xia will use troops against Qingtang for about three or four months. After autumn, I will use troops against Goryeo."

Yelu Zongzhen pondered slightly, and then said: "It's just that there must be internal support from the Song people in our country of Liao. I'm afraid I won't be able to hide this from the Song people when I deploy troops and generals, so I have to think of another way."

"Your Majesty thinks he has a clever plan."

Li Yuanhao said.

The implication is that everyone depends on their ability.

Anyway, his method is relatively simple. The territory between Song and Xia is mostly wilderness and grassland. His army can be deployed in the hinterland. The cavalry can come and go like the wind and can attack or defend at any time.

Yelu Zongzhen is more embarrassed here.

Because his defense area is the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, which was originally the territory of the Han people and had many cities.

Deployment of troops on the border, and the entry and exit of soldiers into the city will inevitably alert Han spies. Therefore, it is really necessary to find a way to hide the enemy from the enemy, so that the Song Dynasty does not realize that his main force is not attacking Goryeo, but on the Song-Liao border.

"I will naturally make a decision on this."

Yelu Zongzhen thought for a moment, and instead of thinking about this, he suddenly said: "King Xia is not worried that if he is defeated this time, he will be catastrophic?"

Li Yuanhao raised his head and looked at the sky. It was finally dark now. It was approaching evening, the sun was setting, the night sky was bright, and the wind at night seemed much gentler, not as manic as during the day.

He said calmly: "If we don't fight, how can Xixia and Liao survive for a long time?"

"In that case, let's fight to the bitter end!"

Yelu Zong couldn't help but look at him with admiration. At least the two sides had the same vision.

Or.

Anyone who is smart can see it.

If this continues, our country will eventually have only one path to destruction.

Might as well give it a try.

Night falls.

The troops of Yelu Zongzhen and Li Yuanhao have also begun to set up camp, setting up tents and densely packed camps around the mountain.

Both sides were lightly fortified.

In fact, both sides know very well that unless the other side is so stupid that they will start fighting at this time, otherwise there will be no possibility of war.

So basically I just practiced a little bit symbolically.

After that, Yelu Zongzhen held another dinner party, and participated with several of his subordinates, plus Li Yuanhao and several of his subordinates.

The guests and hosts at the banquet had a great time, and the banquet was not over until late.

The vast grassland is bright at night, and the bright moonlight shines down like the Milky Way, making people's vision very broad.

The blue sky was dotted with stars. Yelv Zong was really drunk. He sat on a hill, holding a wine glass, and raised his head to look up at the night sky in the northwest. He unconsciously said: "How vast is the night sky?"

Next to him, Li Yuanhao was also a little tipsy, and replied with a smile: "Even if it is vast, people still have words to say. The sun and the moon are like marching, and An De is sitting there talking about his life."

"oh?"

Yelv Zong looked at the other party in surprise, and then laughed loudly: "I didn't expect that King Xia also liked Han people's poetry."

"I naturally like Mr. Wu Liu's poems. What's more, in recent years, people from the Song Dynasty like to sell books to our Xia Kingdom. I am very annoyed by it, but I can't stop it."

Li Yuanhao shook his head.

They opened border markets with each other with the Song Dynasty, and were not allowed to ban trade. They were in a state of pain and happiness.

The happy thing is that the Song Dynasty has no purchase restrictions or bans on sales, so they can buy as much tea, ironware and even military books as they need.

The painful thing is that the Song Dynasty is really too big. All kinds of goods are sold to Xixia in a rush, but they can sell very little, resulting in extremely unequal trade between the two sides.

Maybe this year Xixia earns 10 million yuan from the Song Dynasty, and others can get 20 million yuan from you. Even if Xixia has blood transfusions from merchants from the Western Regions, Xixia will still suffer in the end if this continues.

"It's good to read more books by the Han people, and their Buddhist teachings are profound. I like the Buddhist scriptures of the Han people very much."

Yelu Zongzhen smiled. He was not opposed to the Confucianization of the country.

As he said that, he looked at Li Yuanhao again, feeling a little bit sympathetic, so he said: "I have known the King of Xia for a long time, but now this is the first time we have met."

"Your Majesty is so heroic and majestic that I admire you."

Li Yuanhao replied.

He thought Yelvzong was really talking about his appearance.

However, Yelu Zongzhen said: "After this time, I think it will be difficult to meet again in the future. I am just a little emotional. I fell in love with King Xia at the first sight, and we have been separated since then. I don't know what year and month we will be able to drink and talk as freely as we do today."

As he spoke, he looked towards the distant starry sky.

Li Yuanhao was slightly stunned. He was a ruthless person and never cared about family and friendship. It was hard for anyone to talk to him so sincerely.

So after he was silent for a while, he looked at the starry sky and said calmly: "When the Song Dynasty is destroyed, I will have a drink with His Majesty again!"

But by then, the atmosphere may not be like today.