Chapter 466: Send Troops to Recapture the Western Regions

In May of the 11th year of the Qingli reign, King Aqifuluo of Gaochang ordered the imprisonment of the Song envoys.

The three envoys were Sun Youtong, a doctor of the Ministry of Rites, Li Tao, a doctor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Liu Bingyan, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When they learned about this, they showed great anger in the face of the rude Gaochang soldiers.

Even when they were tied up, they kept cursing, saying that the envoys of the Kingdom of Heaven should not be insulted, and if they dared, they would kill them.

Hearing that the Song envoys were stubborn and kept cursing in the prison, Aqifuluo was also very surprised. At the instigation of Princess Jingyang, he wanted to kill them to vent his anger.

Fortunately, Gaochang ministers Hu Duoge, Tu Ruhe, Sijie and others persuaded him privately, and he gave up.

However, what Aqifuluo didn't know was.

These three people were the hard bones specially picked by the Political System Council of the Great Song Dynasty.

At that time, when the Political System Council issued a decree to send people as envoys, it was already clear.

It is said that this mission to the Western Regions is to make the Western Regions Uighurs and the Black Khanate submit. Just like during the Han Dynasty, although there were thirty-six countries, they all submitted to the Han Dynasty and were placed under the jurisdiction of the Western Regions Chief Secretary's Office.

This mission is not only to the Western Regions Uighurs, but also to the Black Khanate. The purpose of the Song Dynasty is to make both countries submit and become vassals of the Song Dynasty in the Western Regions.

And the mission process requires them to have a tough attitude and must demonstrate the majesty of the Song Dynasty, and must not humiliate the state system of a great country.

But at the same time, the Political System Council also indicated the danger, telling them that the Western Regions Uighurs and the Black Khanate are likely to disobey, and the envoys are likely to fall into a very dangerous situation at that time.

Originally, it was thought that the degree of danger had been indicated, and the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs might have few people responding. However, after these words were passed to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, applicants gathered and broke the threshold of the two ministers.

Not only middle and senior officials such as Langzhong and Yuanwailang signed up, but even the assistant ministers of the two ministries responded and asked to go to the Western Regions as envoys.

Zhao Jun was still very surprised to learn about this. Are all the officials of the Song Dynasty iron-willed?

He only knew what this meant afterwards.

Successfully completing the task means that they can make the two major countries in the Western Regions surrender with their own strength and a few words, become vassal states of the Song Dynasty, and be included in the Anxi Protectorate of the Song Dynasty, just like Ban Dingyuan, who will be remembered in history.

Even if the task is not completed successfully, the Western Region Uighurs and the Black Khanate Kingdom refuse, and even at the most dangerous time, endangering their lives, it is also a contribution to the Song Dynasty.

They are not stupid, and naturally they all understand that they are bait. Once the Western Region Uighurs and the Black Khanate Kingdom use violence against them, it will give the Song Dynasty an excuse to send troops.

Even if they die in the Western Regions in the end, they will also be remembered in history, and their merits are enough to benefit their descendants.

This is definitely a good deal.

Therefore, the three of them were ready to die for the country.

Although this situation is the worst, since it is within the plan, they can be open-minded.

They wished that Aqi Fuluo would do so.

Soon, more than ten days later, the official document was delivered to Bianliang at an expedited speed of 800 miles, and the knights had to run 300 to 400 kilometers every day.

In late May, the weather was hot some time ago, and it was the flood season of the Yellow River.

The heavy rain in the upper reaches and the melting of the snow mountains caused the water volume of the Yellow River downstream to rise sharply. This period of time was a vacuum period for trade on both sides of the Yellow River.

The Yellow River flooded and the waves were rolling, and the trade ships could not come at all. They could only stay temporarily at the canal ports and wait for the flood season to pass.

For this reason, the Yellow River Bridge that had been planned had to be temporarily stopped, and by the way, it could also test whether the Yellow River bridge piers cast by the Ministry of Industry could withstand the baptism of the flood.

"Not bad, not bad. The bridge piers we built are safe and sound under the flood, standing in the river without any impact. Mr. Zhiyuan, take a look."

In the Constitutional Court, Jia Changchao, who was in charge of the construction of the Ministry of Works, showed a look of joy after reading the official documents sent by the Ministry of Works this morning.

This Yellow River Bridge is actually the fifth reinforced concrete cross-river bridge in the Song Dynasty, and it is also the third large cross-river bridge built using the caisson method. It was started at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.

Before this, the biggest difficulty encountered by the craftsmen and designers of the Ministry of Works of the Song Dynasty when building the first railway in the Song Dynasty was how to cross the river.

For those small and medium-sized rivers, it is easy to say that dams can be built upstream to store water and artificially reduce the amount of water in the downstream. This will not only facilitate the construction of bridge piers, but also open the gates to release water during the dry season to solve the water problem in the downstream rural areas.

But it is not easy to deal with medium and large rivers like Yingshui and Rushui. Even if a dam is built, the water flow is still high during the dry season, and the water depth is often about ten feet, which makes it inconvenient to start construction.

For this reason, many designers brainstormed and created this caisson method, using a large box to sink to the bottom of the water, and then tying steel bars and pouring cement in the box to complete the construction of the bridge piers.

The most surprising thing is that this method was not found by Zhao Zhen in the novel, or proposed by Zhao Jun.

It is the result of the designers' own brainstorming, which is similar to the caisson method designed by Zhan Tianyou, a famous railway engineer in the late Qing Dynasty.

It can be seen that the wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated.

Hearing that the bridge piers designed by the Yellow River this time were safe and sound, Zhao Jun nodded with satisfaction and said, "Well, very good, such large bridges are a century-long plan, and many things must be prevented in advance. Various tests and measurements are indispensable. This time it happened to be a flood, which is also a test for the Yellow River Bridge."

"Yes, if everything goes well, I believe it will be a valuable experience for us to build the Yangtze River Bridge in the future."

"Oh? Are you planning to build the Yangtze River Bridge so soon?"

"As the director often says, we should look ahead. Although it is certainly difficult to build the Yangtze River Bridge at present, it will be an indispensable project in the future."

Everyone was talking.

Jia Changchao sighed, "It's a pity. Our Ministry of Works has also sent people to the Yangtze River to measure. At least with the current capabilities, it is difficult to build on the Yangtze River."

"Yes, there is really no comparison between the Yellow River Bridge and the Yangtze River Bridge. We are building it in a narrow place, and the total length is only more than 300 feet. But if it is the Yangtze River Bridge, it is probably at least 700 to 800 feet."

Yan Shu took over the conversation and said, "The most important thing is that the river has a dry season. In winter and spring, when the water level is the lowest, you can even wade across it. It is not difficult to build bridge piers. But if it is the Yangtze River, even in the dry season in history, it is..."

He shook his head as he spoke.

Although the Yellow River is the mother river, the water flow is far from that of the Yangtze River.

The annual water flow is 17 times that of the Yellow River. During the flood season, the difference can be expanded to more than 30 times. One Yangtze River is equivalent to 17 Yellow Rivers.

This makes it not difficult to build a bridge on the Yellow River. Even in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there are historical records that the ancients built bridges on the Yellow River. Later, during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, iron chain bridges were also built.

However, there has never been a record of building a real bridge on the Yangtze River. There are only records of building floating bridges at the narrower part of the estuary and in the season when the water flow is slow.

For example, Fan Ruoshui, a Song Dynasty man, participated in the design of the Caishiji floating bridge in the early Northern Song Dynasty, which became the first bridge across the Yangtze River in history.

However, the floating bridge is just a bridge connected by a small boat below. The Caishiji estuary is the most indebted part of the Yangtze River, and it can only be realized when the water flow is slow. It is too far away in terms of firmness. It was washed away instantly during the flood season a year later.

Therefore, compared with a real cross-river bridge with piers, the floating bridge itself does not have much significance.

If we want to abandon the floating bridge and build a long-lasting bridge, the Yangtze River will be a huge problem and the ultimate test for the entire Song Dynasty bridge project.

If building a bridge on the Yellow River is considered an elite monster, the Yangtze River Bridge is the ultimate boss.

This will become a long-term research topic for the Political System Institute in the future.

"The Yangtze River Bridge can only be discussed later. For now, we should do a good job of the current situation. The construction period of the Yellow River Bridge does not need to be so rushed. It can be completed in five or ten years."

Zhao Jun tapped the table lightly and said, "But the safety, quality and overall design of the bridge must be guaranteed. It must not collapse after it is built. In the future, for large-scale projects like this and projects related to people's livelihood, the person in charge of the project must be confirmed. Once there is a problem, from the officials in charge of the project to any irresponsible workers, they must be held accountable, even the prime minister."

His eyes looked at Jia Changchao.

Jia Changchao's heart trembled, and he nodded and said, "I will go to the bridge site in a few days to check the project situation and convey the intention of the director to everyone in the engineering team."

"Well, that's good. By the way, let's also observe whether the Yellow River has flooded during the flood season this year and see the results of our river repair in previous years."

Zhao Jun said, "If there are any problems, we must also check for leaks and fill them in."

"Please rest assured, director."

Jia Changchao responded. He was the leader of the Yellow River project. Now, after more than ten years of water conservancy construction, the three requirements put forward by Zhao Jun have basically been completed.

That is, diversion, dredging, embankment repair and other projects have solved the problem of siltation in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Although the water-binding and sand-flushing method cannot completely wash away the silt accumulated in the old course, it is currently a temporary solution, but once the upstream greening is done and the downstream soil is stabilized, I believe that in a few decades, the Yellow River will be completely calm.

Everyone was talking about the Yellow River issue. At this moment, an official came in from outside the door, holding a document from the Imperial Court. He walked up to Zhao Jun and said, "Minister, urgent news from the northwest."

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun took the document and immediately scanned it.

Everyone looked at him and saw that his face went from frowning at the beginning to relaxing after a while, but he was not very happy and still looked quite heavy.

"What happened, Hanlong?"

Yan Shu asked in surprise: "What happened in the northwest again?"

"Something happened to the envoys sent out."

Zhao Jun said: "I actually thought that they would be in danger, but I think the probability is not high, as long as the King of Gaochang is rational."

He shook his head and said: "Now it seems that this King of Gaochang is probably brainless, or like Qu Wentai, he was coerced by external forces and had to make such a decision."

"I heard that in order to win over Gaochang Kingdom a few years ago, the Liao people tried to let Gaochang and Xixia attack our Song Dynasty together, and married a royal family girl to it."

Fan Zhongyan thought for a while and said: "Is there any way in this regard?"

"Do you mean that the Liao people are inciting?"

Cai Qi was surprised.

"I just think this is very likely."

"It's really strange."

Song Shou wondered: "The Liao people should know the gap between Gaochang and our Song Dynasty, why do they incite the Gaochang people to oppose us?"

"Not strange."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "There are many ancient Chinese sayings, but we also have many new proverbs in our later generations, such as the saying that it is better to die than to die for a friend."

"You'd rather die than let me die?"

"Yes, the Liao Kingdom is now in a state of panic. We are peaceful and prosperous here, and they are eyeing us covetously. If they don't find a way to find something for us to do, and make some trouble in the northwest, what if they suddenly send troops when they are suppressing internal rebellion?"

"That's true."

Everyone thought about it and it made sense.

The internal instability of the Liao Kingdom, as the ruling class, is most worried about losing the regime.

The resistance of various ethnic tribes to the Khitan people is secondary.

The main contradiction is that there is a neighbor who is stronger than them and is eyeing them covetously, and may send troops to the north at any time.

Perhaps the upper class of the Liao Kingdom is completely incomparable to the Song Dynasty in the development of scientific governance.

But the basic strategic vision must still be there.

I think so.

Zhao Kuangyin said long ago, how can others sleep soundly beside the bed?

The current situation is that the Song Dynasty is not only sleeping next to the Liao Kingdom, but also beating the Liao Kingdom's son and robbing his wife. How can the Liao Kingdom be at ease?

Therefore, the Gaochang Kingdom's disturbance this time may be Liao's attempt to divert trouble to the east, hoping that the Song Dynasty would focus on the Western Regions instead of staring at this shaky neighbor next to it.

Thinking of this, Fan Zhongyan nodded and said, "It was probably the Liao people who instigated it, but it was also a case of someone giving you a pillow when you were sleepy. The Song Dynasty just lacked an excuse to attack the Western Regions, so it came?"

"As the saying goes, you must have a legitimate reason to attack the army. Gaochang Kingdom is seeking its own death, so it can't be blamed on others. My Song Dynasty is upright, but it is bullied by a tiny country. This is intolerable."

Song Shou said, "This matter should be announced to the world, and then the army will be dispatched to destroy Gaochang. Announce to the world that this is the end of bullying the Celestial Empire."

"Well, that's what it should be."

"Give the order, Zhiyuan, this time destroying Gaochang Kingdom, most of the Western Regions can be recovered."

"And by then, maybe we can deter the Black Khan and take back the entire Western Regions."

"The Western Regions, which have been away from the Central Plains Dynasty for more than 300 years since the mid-Tang Dynasty, should also return to the embrace of the Han people."

Many prime ministers said one after another.

In the past, these people must have been conservatives. Facing the aggressiveness of the Liao people, it was considered good not to pay tribute. At most, they would make a Chanyuan Alliance and treat the Liao people as brothers.

But now they have guns in their hands, so they are more confident. They have evolved from conservatives to radicals, and they are ready to restore the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties.

This is the confidence given to them by the prosperity of the country.

Seeing what everyone said, Zhao Jun no longer hesitated and slammed the table and said, "Okay, let's do it. I will ask the government to issue an edict later. I will write a hand order now, and everyone will sign it together to destroy Gaochang and recover the Western Regions!"

Destroy Gaochang and recover the Western Regions!

In this way, the territory of the Song Dynasty will be more than one million square kilometers, reaching the peak level of the Han Dynasty.

If the Liao Kingdom is destroyed again, Outer Mongolia, Outer Khingan Mountains, Sakhalin Island and other large territories will be recovered, and then Tubo will be taken down.

Then it will surpass the peak period of the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop, with an area of ​​more than 15 million square kilometers.

Chinese Autumn-Leaf Begonia means unification!