Less than an hour and a half after the vassal king's envoys arrived in Beijing, their demands to the Song Dynasty reached Koji's ears.
In the bamboo courtyard.
Kou Ji tugged at the fur on his body and asked in surprise: "You mean, they want to buy iron materials from our country, Da Song?"
Zhao Run stood in front of Kou Ji and nodded solemnly.
Since Zhao Run was appointed as the crown prince, Zhao Run has become much calmer.
Teaching him is no longer the responsibility of Kou Ji alone, but the responsibility of many people.
Zhao Run had moved out of the harem and moved into the East Palace where Zhao Zhen used to live. The Wende Building in the East Palace became the place where Zhao Run studied.
Every day, doctors from the Imperial College, bachelors from various cabinets, and bachelors from various universities would come to Wende Building to give lectures to Zhao Run.
The lectures given by the doctors and bachelors of the Imperial College are not as flexible as Kou Ji, nor are they as laissez-faire as Kou Ji. They are relatively rigid, so the students they teach will inevitably be less spiritual and more calm.
Seeing Zhao Run nodding, Kou Ji asked with a smile: "They want iron materials from the workshops outside the city?"
Zhao Run nodded and said: "What they mean is that it is best to use finished materials that have been forged in the workshop. They are willing to spend a lot of money to buy them. If my father is willing to send skilled craftsmen to guide them in forging iron, they are willing to pay for it."
Pay a huge price."
Kou Ji laughed, "They are actually smart. I thought they would be stupid and stare at the firearms..."
Zhao Run smiled and said: "My father said so too."
Kou Ji smiled lightly and asked, "What does your father plan to do?"
Zhao Run said seriously: "My father neither agreed nor refused. He asked me to come over and ask what you mean."
Kou Ji smiled and said: "Then you go back and tell your father that since they want it, then sell it to them. The price should be expensive, the more expensive the better."
Zhao Run hesitated and said: "Sir, aren't you afraid that after they get the iron materials, they will develop our forging skills?"
Kou Ji said with a bright smile: "If the blacksmithing technique could be studied by others, it would have been spread throughout the world long ago."
Zhao Run nodded and said no more. After bidding farewell to Kou Ji, he returned to the palace to deliver a message.
After Zhao Run left, Kou Ji shook his head and smiled, "Although he was smart for a while, he is still not good enough. A person who has been dead for more than ten years is smarter than you."
The person Kou Ji mentioned who had been dead for more than ten years was the Eighth Prince Zhao Yuanyan.
In order to obtain the iron materials for the steel forging workshop, Zhao Yuanyan chose to purchase a large number of farm tools from the private sector and melt them for recasting.
Zhu Neng and others never laid their eyes on those farm tools.
Based on this alone, they are not as good as Zhao Yuanyan.
If Zhu Neng and others proposed to purchase a large amount of farm tools from Zhao Zhen through normal diplomatic relations, Zhao Zhen would definitely not refuse and would not even discuss it with Kou Ji.
Even if Kou Ji knew it, he wouldn't stop it.
As for whether they took the farm tools back and melted them into other things, or used those farm tools to plow the fields, no one in the Song Dynasty cared.
Zhu Neng and others directly asked the Song Dynasty to purchase iron materials, and anyone can guess their purpose.
Their move is tantamount to adding resistance to their own purchase of iron materials.
Kou Ji called Liu Heng to his study and told Liu Heng about the matter.
After listening to Kou Ji's analysis, Liu Heng said with a wry smile: "We all have martial arts backgrounds, and we should be simple and crude when encountering problems. If you buy farm tools and then take them back and recast them, a lot of time will be wasted.
And no one can guarantee that they will get the iron they want after recasting.
Therefore, they could only use simple and crude methods to obtain iron materials from the court.
If the court agrees, everyone will naturally be happy.
If the court disagrees, they will naturally settle for the next best thing."
Kou Ji nodded and said, "I think that's what they think too. But they put their thoughts on the surface so openly, it's easy for others to take notice of them."
Liu Heng said dumbfounded: "You and the officials are busy restructuring now, how can you care about them? If you and the officials don't move them, they will have nothing to fear."
Kou Ji said seriously: "There are still powerful countries in the West."
Liu Heng asked back: "Are you talking about the Tianzhu people who trembled under the trampling of iron hoofs, or the giant cannibals hiding in the castle without showing their heads under the blast of powerful crossbows?"
Kou Ji looked at Liu Heng in astonishment.
Liu Hengqian smiled and said: "I have been bored recently, so I looked through the Dashi books translated by your students. Some of the military books in them looked quite interesting."
Kou Ji asked curiously: "What did you see from it?"
Liu Heng smiled and commented: "You are brave but you are not wise."
Kou Ji pondered and said: "Tell me carefully..."
Liu Heng made a few gestures with his hands and said, "No matter how many people there are on both sides, it is clear that there is a battle between horses and chariots. The one with more people, the one with the best equipment, and the one with the determination to fight to the death can almost win.
The art of war and deception are almost invisible.
The most important thing is that in their military books, the strongest armies mentioned are either cavalry formations or infantry formations.
There are almost no crossbow formations or heavy crossbow formations.
There is a battle formation inside that is boasted to be very mysterious.
What is it called Macedonia?"
Kou Jixiao asked: "What do you think of the Macedonian Phalanx?"
Liu Heng smiled and said: "I am more than a star and a half worse than the soldiers of Wei. I only need to lead 10,000 Song Dynasty imperial troops, and I can easily defeat three times the enemy.
Soldiers and horses are too single. As someone who has led soldiers, you should understand that single soldiers and horses have little survivability on the battlefield.
Take Macedonia as an example. Although the spears in their hands are long, they can certainly block the enemy from the spears in close combat.
But they don't have powerful crossbowmen to fight against us.
So when I encounter them, I only need to order the heavy crossbow array to fire one round, and I can shoot through their phalanx.
They can do nothing but get beaten.
If there are 10,000 imperial troops, all of which are crossbowmen and heavy crossbowmen, they will not be able to reach me.
You also know that it is a very foolish behavior to form a formation on the battlefield and move forward step by step.
It was like this when we used formation diagrams to fight in the Song Dynasty.
I, the Song Dynasty, also had a huge number of bows and crossbows to help me, but I was beaten like a fool.
Macedonia will only be beaten more stupidly.
Of course, if they have muskets, let’s talk about it separately.”
Kou Ji laughed and said: "This is a powerful army from more than a thousand years ago."
Liu Heng smiled and said: "More than a thousand years ago, if they met the Qin army, they would definitely lose."
Kou Ji smiled and said nothing.
Liu Heng said with emotion: "The Qin crossbow is so powerful that it can defeat the six kingdoms. Its power is like a strong wind, surging and unstoppable. In terms of bloody bravery, among the strongest soldiers in the world, which one can compare with the Qin army?"
Kou Ji smiled and said: "But his record is not small..."
Liu Heng laughed and said: "It would be strange if a group of pure soldiers and horses could not win against a group of disorganized semi-peasant soldiers. In the Dashi article, the Macedonian phalanx was boasted of its miracles, but if you take a closer look at their opponents, you will see
You will find that their record is just like that."
Kou Ji smiled and said: "But Macedonia is the military formation we had a thousand years ago. Maybe we have made some progress now."
Liu Heng shook his head and said with a smile: "The military formation of one type of soldiers and horses has changed into the military formation of three types of soldiers and horses, which is also called a change? How many types of soldiers and horses are there in my Song Dynasty Forbidden Army?
Scout, messenger, swing, charge, sword and shield, spear, crossbow, ranger, light armor, heavy armor, throwing, fire head and more.
Our military formations are too numerous to count.
Our soldiers can complete multiple changes in the military formation, quickly and stably, and can change with the changes in the military formation.
They simply can't do it.
Not to mention our ever-changing tactics of war.
They only have two paths forward and retreat, and they only talk about what is right and not what is strange.
Which one is strong and which one is weak is clear at a glance.”
Kou Ji smiled and said: "According to your statement, Zhu Neng, Li Zhaoliang and others are capable of sweeping the battlefield in the West."
Liu Heng said with a smile: "With Zhu Neng, Li Zhaoliang and others' familiarity with the art of war, if they face this kind of enemy, they will be able to tire them out before they even fight.
By the time the fight started, Xiantian had already won half the battle.
Whether they can sweep them all depends on the number of soldiers and horses under Zhu Neng and Li Zhaoliang.
After all, if an enemy force that is ten times larger is pressing forward, it will be difficult to win without a natural barrier to block it."
Kou Ji nodded and said: "It seems that they have not encountered strong enemies in Tianzhu, otherwise they would not have been able to obtain the Bayeux Sutra and the Buddha's bone relics."
The smile on Liu Heng's face faded, "Fourth brother, I suspect that Cao Lili, Li Zhaoliang, Zhu Neng, Yuan Shan and others have already met in Tianzhu.
They had obviously discussed the gift to the official family in advance, otherwise they would not have been able to present generous gifts to the official family at the same time."
Kou Ji nodded solemnly and said: "I also discovered this. They must have secretly formed an alliance and prepared to work together to steal the wool from our Song Dynasty.
More importantly, our two families were blocked from the alliance by them."
Liu Heng said in a deep voice: "Do you need me to do anything?"
Kou Ji shook his head and said, "No, we can just wait and see what happens."
Liu Heng hesitated and said: "I'm afraid that if we take action too late, we won't have our share of the treasures of the West."
Kou Ji shook his head and said with a smile: "What we have is something they can't catch up with. I'll draw something for you later, and you can secretly give it to them and let them get it for me."
As long as they can meet my requirements, I can ask the officials to send people to build a steel forging workshop for them, and I can also give them the production drawings of Firebolt Meteor Arrow and Hundred Tigers Running Together.
Since they have chosen to abandon our family, I can only let them follow behind and eat ashes forever."
Liu Heng asked: "Fourth brother has been worried about this for a long time?"
Kou Ji pointed to his chest, laughed and said, "I already have a plan in mind."
Speaking of this, Kou Ji smiled at Liu Heng and said: "Go back and write to Tianci and Bo Xu, asking them to watch the people under their rule have children and study shipbuilding.
When a new ship came out, the old ship was immediately sold to the Cao family.
In this way, the best legacy will always be in our hands.
And we don’t need to spend too much money from beginning to end, and we even make a profit.
They use their lives to make money, we use our brains to make their money."
Liu Heng nodded and said thoughtfully: "Can the Cao family eat as many ships as our two families?"
Kou Ji glanced at Liu Heng and smiled calmly: "The Cao family has obviously established a relationship with Cao Li, and I asked the Cao family to establish the relationship.
The Cao family hooked up with Cao Lili, which is equivalent to hooking up with Li Zhaoliang, Zhu Neng, and Yuan Shan.
The Cao family will definitely not be able to eat it, but they can definitely eat it together."
Liu Heng said thoughtfully: "What the fourth brother means is that they will buy a good ship from us through the Cao family?"
Kou Ji nodded and said: "That is inevitable. They are gradually getting rid of me, so they will never openly trade with me in the future.
But they have to want the good things we have, so they can only go through the official family or the Cao family."
Liu Heng sighed: "It's really cheap!"
Kou Ji looked up to the sky and laughed, "Isn't it..."
After Kou Ji talked with Liu Heng, he spent four days drawing a lot of things with illustrations and descriptions, and sent people to print ten thousand copies. He sent Liu Heng before the New Year's Eve banquet.
I handed it over to the envoys of several major feudal kings.
Most of the vassal king's envoys were their relatives.
So when Liu Heng took out what Kou Ji had painted and offered to exchange the Firebolt Meteor Arrow with Hundred Tigers Running Together, the other party agreed without even thinking about it.
After reaching this secret deal.
The New Year's Eve banquet slowly kicked off.
Kou Ji, who had been at home for two full months, finally appeared in the palace.
In two months, Kou Ji lost a lot of weight, but his power also became much stronger.
When Kou Ji entered the Daqing Hall with his hands behind his back and followed the palace lady who led the way, everyone in the Daqing Hall was silent.
Thousands of people froze in front of their tables, watching silently as Kou Ji walked step by step to the position under the imperial steps and slowly sat down.
"Kou Xiang..."
Someone stood up and saluted.
Others also stood up one after another, bowed and saluted Kou Ji.
Even the envoys of the vassal kings and various subordinate envoys stood up and saluted one after another.
Kou Ji sat down on his seat calmly and waved his hand calmly, "Everyone, sit down..."
"Thank you, Prime Minister Kou..."
Everyone saluted again and sat down one after another.
After everyone arrived, Chen Lin walked out from the back of the palace, stood on the imperial steps, and announced loudly.
"Respectfully invite the officials..."
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother..."
"Your Majesty, Queen..."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince..."
Chen Lin announced four times in a row.
Everyone in the Daqing Hall stood up and saluted, greeting Zhao Zhen's family.
Zhao Zhen and Empress Cao supported Empress Dowager Li on the left and right, Zhao Run followed obediently, and Concubine Du and the concubines followed behind the crown prince.
A large family appeared in the Daqing Hall with cheers.
"I will visit the official's house..."
"Please see me..."
"..."
In the presence of all the courtiers in the Daqing Hall, Zhao Zhen and his family sat where they should.
Zhao Zhen flicked his sleeves and declared boldly, "I wish you all to be equal..."
The courtiers in Daqing Hall straightened up.
Zhao Zhen announced again, "I'll give you a seat..."
"Thank you, officials..."
After thanking everyone, everyone in the Daqing Hall took their seats.
Tang Jie, the Minister of Rites, held a yellow scroll in his hand and began to read in a high-pitched tone.
A group of people in the Daqing Hall listened in ecstasy.
After Tang Jie read out his gorgeous New Year's greetings.
Zhao Zhen ordered Chen Lin to read out the rewards for the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty.
After the decree of the reward was read out, the vassal kings, subordinates, and envoys came out one after another to offer gifts to Zhao Zhen.
Zhao Zhen accepted their gifts and agreed to their demands on the spot.
Then the vassal kings, subordinates, and envoys presented their carefully prepared programs to His Majesty Zhao Zhen, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.
Kou Ji sat on his seat and didn't say a word from beginning to end.
He was filled with emotions as he watched those unique and exotic programs.
Once upon a time, in the court of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty faced envoys from various countries and had to entertain them with shows. They even introduced some powerful martial arts warriors for the envoys to kill for fun.
In the end, he was the one who ended up at the end, regaining a little face for the Song Dynasty.
Nowadays, the Song Dynasty no longer has to entertain anyone, let alone push the people of the Song Dynasty out to be killed for fun.
On the contrary, the vassal kings, subordinates, and envoys began to please the Song Dynasty.
Even if they were teaching skills in the palace and the warriors of the Song Dynasty killed members of the envoys, the envoys would clap their hands in excitement, shout loudly, and even offer gold and silver, praising the warriors of the Song Dynasty as first-class warriors.
Kou Ji watched an imperial golden armor kill a majestic and powerful Tianzhu slave with a knife, which attracted cheers from the crowd. He was even rewarded with a gold ingot from the envoy of the Yuanshan Ministry, and nodded with satisfaction.
"This is how a big country should be. A big country always wants to be pleased, not to please others."
Kou Ji murmured quietly, picked up the wine glass and started drinking.
A grand New Year's Eve banquet ended after Kou Ji got drunk.
Kou Ji carried a cart full of rewards and left the palace in style.
In the following days, we worshiped our ancestors at the Imperial Ancestral Temple and visited relatives and friends. It was a busy four or five days.
Four or five days later.
Kou Ji was completely free.
An old ox cart stopped at the entrance of the bamboo courtyard when Kou Ji had some free time.
The old man got off the ox cart and stared at the word "Kou" hanging on the door of the bamboo courtyard for a long time.
The gatekeeper guarding the door of the bamboo courtyard saw the old man and stared in shock.
After the disciple hastily saluted, he has to go in and report.
But he was stopped by his father-in-law.
After standing at the door for a long time, the old man stepped into the bamboo courtyard.
When the father-in-law appeared in front of Kou Ji, Kou Ji was shocked.
Kou Ji helped his father-in-law sit down and asked in shock: "If you are not staying in Hexi during the Chinese New Year, what are you doing here in Bianjing?"
With your body and bones, you might die under the bumps of a long journey."
Li Di sat on the seat with Kou Ji's support, rolled his eyes and said, "You wish I would die so that I could make room for you to do whatever you want?"
Kou Ji ordered the butler to serve tea, then sat next to Li Di and said, "I still don't like your position."
Li Di was stunned for a moment, then nodded with a smile: "That's right... you are now the number one person under the official family, in charge of all the officials in the Song Dynasty. I really can't get into your eyes as an official who eats sand."
Kou Ji said in a deep voice: "You suddenly ran back to Beijing during the Chinese New Year, and you didn't even know what your intention was."
The smile on Li Di's face gradually dissipated, and he said in a heavy voice: "First, to express my condolences to Wang Zeng, and second, to have a chat with you and the officials."
Kou Ji pondered and said: "Is it mainly because you want to talk to me and the officials?"
Li Di didn't hide anything and nodded.
Kou Ji hesitated for a moment and said, "Is there anything that is not convenient to say in a letter?"
Li Di did not answer Kou Ji's question, but asked Kou Ji in a deep voice, "Do you know what Li Zhaoliang, Yuan Shan, and Zhu Neng are doing in the Western Regions?"
Kou Jidao: "They are plundering the money of those small countries and towns to strengthen themselves."
Li Di said solemnly: "They are not just robbing money, they are opening up territory. I heard from passing merchants that they have formed an alliance with the Black Khanate, and the troops are divided into two groups, heading all the way to the Black Khanate.
Heading to the west of the country, we headed straight for Dashi.
Go all the way to the south of the Black Khanate and attack Tianzhu.
After they reached Tianzhu, they met the leader of the Eastern Tianzhu Kingdom. Now the two sides have carved up most of Tianzhu.
Yuan Shan even gave up his territory in the Western Regions and threw those territories to Li Zhaoliang.
After Li Zhaoliang swallowed up the territory of Yuanshan tribe, he was now connected with Zhu Neng's fiefdom and the Black Khanate.
Yuan Shan moved all his people to Tianzhu.
Now we are conquering the remaining half of Tianzhu.
My guess is that Yuanshan used the Yuanshan tribe's previous territory to exchange their territory in Tianzhu with Li Zhaoliang and Zhu Neng, so that Li Zhaoliang and Zhu Neng gave up their territory in Tianzhu.
I believe that the rulers of Yuanshan and East Tianzhu will take over the entire territory of Tianzhu in a year or two. They should divide Tianzhu between them and establish a country and a dynasty.
The territory of Li Zhaoliang and Zhu Neng now has reached the scale of a khanate.
I believe that not long after, four dynasties that are familiar with our Song Dynasty will be established in the West."
Speaking of this, Li Di's face turned very ugly.
Kou Ji pondered and said, "Did you sense the danger?"
Li Di nodded and said solemnly: "Once the four of them establish a country, they will be four dynasties that will not lose to Xixia. If they form an alliance, they will be a huge threat to us, the Song Dynasty."
Kou Ji asked: "So you rushed back to Bianjing City quietly to convince me and the officials to secretly send troops to give them some shock?"
Li Di nodded, then shook his head, "Whether we send out troops or not is not up to me. The current military affairs of the Song Dynasty are not something that I, as a civil servant, can participate in.
However, it is imperative to increase troops to the northwest and southwest.
I heard that there are also constant wars in the north where Gao Weizhao is.
Presumably Gao Weizhao also opened up territory in the north.
Once they formed an alliance and cultivated a large army, it would be a disaster for our Song Dynasty to invade from the west, north, and southwest.
Therefore, the imperial court must increase its troops to the west, north, and southwest.
There is only one imperial army stationed at these three places, which is far from enough."
Kou Ji snorted coldly and said, "They don't have the strength to challenge me, the Song Dynasty."
Li Di said with a bitter face: "I also know that they don't have the strength to challenge me in the Song Dynasty. What can they do later? Raising tigers is not a good idea. When Xixia was still a vassal town of the Song Dynasty, the civil and military officials of the court felt that Xixia was not enough.
fear.
In the end, after Xixia became a serious problem, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty realized that they had raised a man-eating tiger.
If our Song Dynasty allows a few of them to become powerful, then they will become the new tigers.
One tiger in Xixia is enough to give us a headache.
If five tigers appear at once, it will be a great harm to my country, the Song Dynasty."