Since Zhao Kai came to the throne, he has been almost unstoppable, and everything is going as he expected. This has also cultivated his self-confidence, and he is calm and calm in facing everything. However, today, he can't help but look anxious, and even speaks
There was also a hint of unfulfillment in the tone.
What on earth happened!
Li Qi looked at Zhao Kai in shock.
Zhao Kai picked up three memorials from the table, handed them over, and said: "These three eight-hundred-mile express were sent to the palace a moment ago this morning, from Laizhou, Chengdu Prefecture, and Yanshan Prefecture respectively.
"
Li Qi was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously took it.
Zhao Kai didn't wait for Li Qi to open it and look at it, and said with worry: "It's not good news. Emperor Shirakawa of Japan passed away at the end of spring this year. A major earthquake occurred in the Japanese government and it fell into chaos."
Emperor Shirakawa reigned for ten years, started Japan's bicameral system, and supported the samurai group to fight against the old aristocratic group. The conflict between the two parties became more and more intense. And if he fell, this conflict would definitely break out. After all, it was the samurai group that seized power.
It is still unknown whether the old aristocracy will return to power, and there will definitely be a fierce confrontation between the samurai group and the aristocratic group.
This is what Li Qi expected and what he hoped to see, but only if Zhao Kai did not say the following and heard Zhao Kai say: "The thirteen tribes of Tubo formed an alliance to drive our Song army out of Tubo territory.
.The last thing is---."
Having said this, Zhao Kai took a deep breath and said: "The Kingdom of Jin seems to be preparing to go south again."
"What?"
Li Qi was shocked, and the memorial in his hand fell to the ground. Although the first two pieces of news were more difficult, they were not big troubles, but Zhao Kai's last words immediately changed the nature of the first two things. This was undoubtedly
The third front is in danger. If this is the case, the Song Dynasty may collapse overnight.
"How could this happen?" Li Qi said in disbelief: "Why did the Tubo tribe form an alliance to deal with us? Could it be that guy Wu Jie did it? This damn guy, I want to kill him."
He was really anxious.
Qin Hui said hurriedly: "Privy Councilor, please calm down. This matter has nothing to do with Wu Jie. After Wu Jie led his troops into the territory of Tubo, although he conquered some small tribes on the border of Dali, he did not use any force. Instead, he paid attention to
We have focused on consolidating the defense of the Hehuang area. However, in recent years, our country has had a lot of trade with the Western Region countries, and a large amount of goods passed through the Hehuang area. This also aroused the jealousy of various tribes in Tubo, and they tried to occupy the Hehuang area.
Some key roads, especially the Qingtang area, have had many negotiations with the Song Dynasty for this purpose. Not only that, they also secretly ordered their men to rob passing merchants in the Hehuang area in order to fish in troubled waters.
It was just that at that time, our country was focused on fighting against the Jin Kingdom, so it repeatedly gave in. At the beginning of this year, as the New Year had just passed, Wu Jie ordered Zhang Xian to protect the caravan, but encountered Tubo bandits on the way, and the two sides fought. Zhang Xian wiped out the opponent's troops, but some of them were
One of them was the son of a leader of a tribe in Tubo. This tribe began to spread rumors among various tribes in Tubo that the Song Dynasty was going to use troops against them, and soon they united to drive the Zhenxi Army out of Tubo."
Li Qi snorted and said: "Why did the Zhenxi Army drive out of Tubo? This is really ridiculous. They clearly covet the Hehuang area. They want to take back Hehuang, and then extort tolls from the Song Dynasty."
Qin Hui nodded and said: "That's right. Since the main road to the west has been occupied by the Jin army, and Xixia is temporarily in a period of turmoil due to the rebellion, the merchants in the Western Regions have chosen to take a detour to the Hehuang area controlled by the Song Dynasty. If
Hehuang is controlled by them, which is equivalent to blocking our connection with the west."
This is a typical profit-driven war.
Tubo was not rich and relatively poor, but the neighboring Song Dynasty was extremely rich. They saw a large amount of wealth from the Western Regions flowing into the Song Dynasty, and even passed under their noses, but they could not get in. This made the Tubo people
The tribe was very envious and jealous, and the Hehuang area originally belonged to Tubo. During the Huizong period of the Song Dynasty, he sent troops twice to take advantage of the chaos and included the Hehuang area into the territory of the Song Dynasty. However, the wealth contained in this road is very huge.
, it can even be said to be immeasurable.
Now that the Song Dynasty's trade door has been fully opened, the Hehuang area has become very wealthy without any policy, not only richer than the Sijing and Hangzhou, but richer than most states and counties in the Song Dynasty, because this is
At present, the only road that can lead to the Western Regions. Businessmen in the past will leave a lot of wealth to the Hehuang area. In a few years, the economy of the Hehuang area has improved. This is a piece of fat. Don't be jealous.
blind.
It was this piece of fat that prompted the Tubo tribes to join forces to fight against the Song Dynasty. Originally, they were just fighting on a small scale, but due to the emergence of the Zhenxi Army and the successive demise of Dali and Jiaozhi, they felt very nervous.
Let them unite even more to resist foreign strongmen.
Li Qi asked again: "How many troops does the other party have?"
Qin Hui frowned and said: "It is said that Wu Jie's letter is worth about 180,000, and our troops in the Hehuang area plus the Suppressing West Army, the full number is only 60,000."
"The difference is more than 100,000!"
Li Qi tapped his forehead. Such a huge disparity in military strength gave him a very headache.
Zhao Kai said: "Actually, this is not the key. If there is no Jin Kingdom, I can immediately mobilize the Western Army to support Wu Jie. I have not paid attention to the mere rabble, but the problem is that the Jin Kingdom actually wants to abandon it again.
Covenant, it is really unreasonable to attack our country, the Song Dynasty."
What he said is right. The Song Dynasty had quite a lot of experience in fighting Tubo. They won more than they lost. Just before the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, they were able to conquer Hehuang twice, which is evident. The strong enemies of the Song Dynasty have always been the northern powers. If the Jin Dynasty
If the country sends troops at this time, once the Song Dynasty falls into a two-front battle, the most powerful Western Army of the Song Dynasty may face a flanking attack from two sides. This is definitely not the ideal battlefield in the minds of Zhao Kai and Li Qi.
At this time, Li Qi had also calmed down and said: "Your Majesty, is this news true? If the Jin soldiers want to go south, this must be a big move. We can't get the news just now."
Zhao Kai frowned and said: "There is no definite news yet. Jin State's actions this time are quite covert. Zongze also saw something fishy from Jin State's transportation of grain and grass."
"forage?"
"Um."
Zhao Kai said: "According to Zongze's letter, Yanyun merchants who went to the Jin Kingdom to do business have repeatedly seen many convoys transporting goods on the official road to Yunzhou since the beginning of this year. At first, there were no
No one cared about it, but Zong Ze undoubtedly heard about it later. Then he sent someone to inquire, and not only found a large number of convoys, but also found that some tribes from the Jin Kingdom were moving to Yunzhou in the form of ethnic migration."
Li Qi was stunned when he heard this and said: "This is strange. Yunzhou is a strategically important place. It makes sense for people doing business to go there. After all, Yunzhou is an important road. From the south, we can come to our country and from the west.
From Xixia, you can enter Mongolia in the north. But living there is definitely not a wise choice, because once a war breaks out, Yunzhou will bear the brunt, and there is no reason why Jin people would migrate to Yunzhou."
Qin Hui said: "I thought that the Jin army was trying to conceal their secrets. They secretly gathered troops in Yunzhou, and then went south unexpectedly, catching our army by surprise."
Li Qi frowned and said: "It may also be the use of troops against Xixia."
"This possibility cannot be ruled out."
Zhao Kai nodded and said, "But what if they use troops against us?"
Li Qi sighed: "That would be a serious problem. What I, the Song Dynasty, are most afraid of now is mobilizing troops on the mainland. Once a war is launched, our economy will suffer very heavy losses."
Zhao Kai frowned and said, "Then what do you think?"
Li Qi picked up the three memorials and looked at them carefully. The more he looked at them, the more solemn he looked. He pondered for a while and said: "If all this is true, Wei Chen thinks that it is more likely to use troops against us. Wanyan Zongwang and others are not
Fools, they have seen the rapid growth of our country's strength, and if this continues, sooner or later they will be ahead of them in all aspects, and the only way to destroy our country's development is to use force. If I were in their shoes, I would probably do the same.
, If we don’t fight them now, we will fight them from now on.”
Zhao Kai said: "Fortunately, Duke Zhong reminded me that the military reform has not yet been implemented in Yanyun, but there has been no further increase in troops. Moreover, all major military regions are being reorganized. It will be very difficult to deploy troops now. It may be
All the efforts we have put in before will be in vain. What I am most worried about now is the conspiracy between Tubo, Xixia and the Jin Kingdom. If this is the case, we will be attacked in the entire west, northwest, and north."
Li Qi felt a little frustrated when he heard this. If this was really a huge conspiracy, then the Song Dynasty would be in great danger. He said, "I hope this is just a coincidence."
Zhao Kai said: "Is it a coincidence or not? We all have to prepare for the worst."
Li Qi asked: "Then what is the emperor's plan?"
Zhao Kai said: "Our real enemy is the Jin Kingdom, and only the Jin Kingdom can pose a threat to us. The Tubo tribes are not a worry, but now we must concentrate our forces to fight against the Jin Kingdom. As for Tubo, I temporarily plan to withdraw from the town.
The Western Army, let the Zhennan Army guard the Dali and Tubo fortresses, while Wu Jie leads the Zhenxi Army to garrison in the Hehuang area. The Hehuang area must not be lost, otherwise, we will suffer very heavy losses, and then send people to
For negotiations, we need to stabilize them first, and as for Japan, we have too much to take care of ourselves now, so let’s put the Japanese plan aside for now.”
Li Qi hurriedly said: "But the death of Emperor Baihe is a huge opportunity for us."
"Do you think I don't know?"
Zhao Kai said anxiously: "But there is not much time left for me now. As we all know, the Jin Kingdom has always sent out troops in early autumn, and it is only more than a month away from now."
Li Qi clenched his fists, his face full of reluctance, but then he lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, it was Wei Chen who didn't think carefully."
"It's not your fault. After all, you have spent a lot of effort on Japan, but everything has its own priorities, and the Kingdom of Jin is our most serious concern." Zhao Kai continued, "But everything is still unclear now. Zong Zexin also said it above.
It's ambiguous, but I can't wait until the opponent attacks before thinking of a way to deal with it. I must first send someone to Yanyun to take over all local affairs on my behalf. Li Qi."
"Wei Chen is here."
"Thank you for your hard work."
"I obey my orders."
"Okay then, you go home immediately and get ready. You will set off for the Yanyun area today. I will send Niu Gao and 50,000 central imperial troops to support you later."
Now he only has the Central Forbidden Army in his hands to support him. The army in the south is too late. After all, there is only about a month left. Even if the Central Forbidden Army can arrive in advance, it is still unknown. He then said to Qin Hui: "Master Qin slaughter."
"Wei Chen is here."
"I'll leave all the food and fodder matters to you. Remember, I don't want too many people to know about this, so as not to cause unnecessary panic."
"Wei Chen takes orders." (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature for better novels and faster updates!