Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 179 In March, Zhao Guangmei went to the front line in person
A piece of eight-hundred-mile accelerated music passed through the hands of several people one after another, and turned around in a circle. After reading it, everyone's face became extremely gloomy, especially Zhao Guangmei, who looked like she had just eaten three meals. Kilograms of chili peppers, but still holding back with her mouth tightly closed.

Historically, it took the Song army two months to destroy Shu, but it took two years to pacify Shu. Even if we include other intermittent rebellions in Shu, the entire Taizu Dynasty to Shu has never stopped. , which involved great energy of the Song Dynasty.

It can be said that if it were not for the Shu Rebellion, the Song Dynasty would have unified the south much earlier. Maybe it would be Zhao Kuangyin who had accumulated enough strength to fight the Liao Kingdom by then, and then history might be completely different.

Of course Zhao Guangmei knew about this, so before the army invaded Shu, Zhao Guangmei emphasized military discipline extremely seriously. In order to prevent the soldiers from burning, killing and looting, it can be said that he tried his best and even told the soldiers clearly:
As long as you don't rob after you conquer Shu, you can just pay for whatever you like, and the commercial bank will reimburse you when you come back, okay?

He really spent a lot of money.

In addition, there were countless supervisors, and these supervisors were not there to put shoes on the frontline soldiers at all. They only had one goal: to keep an eye on these bastards and not to burn, kill, and loot.

Indeed, although the army in the early Song Dynasty was powerful in combat, its military discipline really delayed things too much.

Under such heavy bleeding, this time the Song army entered Shu, the battle reports Zhao Guangmei saw were actually much better than in history. Although there were still many behaviors of forcibly having non-friendly relationships with the opposite sex, and even sporadic robberies, there were still some. , but at least they are still within the acceptable range.

At least no one does that special beastly thing of cutting women into pieces like in history.

It is precisely because of this that they have been able to continue to use troops against the northwest in the past few months, and the reforms in Kaifeng have also been drastic.

The result can be...

Damn Wang Quanbin!Thank you for your ancestors! !

It turned out that there had been no major incidents in Shu in the past few months. The sporadic burning, killing and looting were not enough to arouse the flames of war everywhere. Zhao Guangmei couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As a result, when dealing with these soldiers who surrendered to Shu, Something happened.

The surrendered pawns of Hou Shu were really not the type to lay down their weapons. It was because Meng Chang surrendered and they had no master, so they had to surrender. However, they have not yet laid down their weapons, and their organizational structure is still there. So how to deal with it is naturally a bit troublesome.

Zhao Kuangyin meant that as long as these surrendered soldiers are willing, they can come to Kaifeng and let him reorganize some of them and merge them into the Forbidden Army, or place them near Kaifeng. If there are young people in the family who are unwilling to come to Kaifeng, they can Give each person four strings of money for travel expenses and let them go back to their respective homes.

Kindness, right?Lao Zhao really has no say in terms of benevolence. He is really sincere and kind. (This is also true in history)
As a result, most of these surrendered soldiers chose to take their money and leave. Sichuan and Shu men are so comfortable.

But when Wang Quanbin and other frontline generals saw it, it was a crime to just give out such useless money to these wastes!
When everyone added up, they took away the money that was supposed to be given to these reduced soldiers.

But how to explain the money gained from greed?Then it can only be...rebellion!

But what if they don’t rebel?

Then force them to rebel!

In particular, many of these soldiers have families, wives and children.

Isn't it simple to make people angry?

It was so easy to destroy the Shu Kingdom that everyone was inflated. In their view, the Shu Army was a bunch of pure waste. From Wang Quanbin to every ordinary soldier, they did not take the Shu Army seriously.

However, these Bashu men are really comfortable most of the time. They feel that they have no bloody spirit. They can rule by anyone and they are too lazy to resist. Meng Chang is not very popular in Houshu. No one is willing to fight for Meng Chang. , this allowed Song Jun to exert an overwhelming momentum.

However, once you corner them, these people are not just biting rabbits, they are all mad dogs!

The combat effectiveness of the Sichuan Army has been wandering back and forth between extremely weak and extremely strong since ancient times. There is no middle state at all.

Men from Sichuan and Sichuan are just so weird.

As a result, Wang Quanbin made these Sichuan troops go from extremely weak to extremely strong.

Originally, this might not be a big deal. Although it was troublesome, it was still too late to remedy the situation. However, when the soldiers on the front line saw that something was wrong, their first reaction was not to report it to the court quickly, but to kill them quickly, eliminate the evidence, and hide it. Report.

This group of remnant soldiers hid in the mountains to fight guerrillas, and the Song army had to fortify the walls and clear the fields. With this strong wall and clearing the fields, more and more people fought guerrillas. When there were more people fighting guerrillas, the Song army had to fortify the walls and clear the fields. Then, the burning The bad habits of killing and looting came back, which led to the more the remnant soldiers fought, the more they gained a mass base. Finally, Quan Shixiong was promoted as the rebel leader and began to confront the Song army head-on.

It has happened that for such a long time, Wang Quanbin, the old Shatuo bastard, has been hiding this from the court, so much so that the court has always thought that the land of Yizhou has been quiet for a long time, and his Song army has no supplies. It is surprising that he has never defeated this whole country. Shixiong.

After losing the first battle, Wang Quanbin and the others felt embarrassed, let alone tell the court. Without supplies, they relied on looting. Then Quan Shixiong became stronger and stronger, until now Quan Shixiong had surrounded Chengdu, and it seemed that they could not hide it. , so we had to rush eight hundred miles away.

Everyone in the imperial court was caught off guard.

After a while, Zhao Guangmei took a deep breath, then took another breath, and then asked: "Where is Yang Ye? Isn't he also in Shu? There is no news about him. Is he in cahoots with Wang Quanbin?"

"Yang, Commander Yang ordered him... just because he refused to plunder the people, he was suspected of colluding with Quan Shixiong, and was imprisoned by Wang Shuai..."

"Ah."

Zhao Guangmei felt a little relieved after hearing this, but then she couldn't help but became furious: "Who gave him such courage! What is he going to do? Does he want to separate himself and become the king? Does he want to be Wang Jian or An Lushan?" Are you Shatuo people going to revolt?!"

Zhao Kuangyin said again: "Okay, third brother, please calm down. What are you doing to embarrass a messenger? The top priority right now is to relieve the siege of Yizhou, send more reinforcements and supplies, and at the same time appease the people of Shu. It's not a big deal, it's just... ...Sigh~, Shu Land is in such chaos, I’m afraid the northwest..."

"The northwest cannot stop." Zhao Guangmei interrupted.

Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help frowning: "Third brother, I can understand your mood, but now we have internal reforms, and there is a campaign in Shu, and it is unwise to compete with the Liao Kingdom in the northwest. The difficulty of the road to Shu lies in entering. It’s difficult, and it’s also difficult to get out. I don’t know how long it will take to calm down this chaos. We are losing money on both fronts. We might as well wait until Sichuan and Shu are calmed down and our territory is stable before engaging in consumption with the Liao Kingdom.”

Of course Zhao Guangmei also knew this truth, but giving up like this really made him unwilling.

Gritting his teeth, he said: "The Sichuan-Sichuan matter may not be as troublesome as imagined. The confrontation in the northwest will continue. We can talk and fight with Yelu House to delay time. Brother, please give me a link. I will Go to Yizhou in person." "You? You don't know how to fight."

"Of course I don't know how to fight, but is the issue in Yizhou now about fighting on the battlefield? I don't know how to fight, but I have money. As long as I can restrain military discipline and understand the mutiny of the people in Shu, It may not be possible to pacify it quickly. Brother, give me three months. In three months, you give me full authority to deal with Yizhou affairs. If it succeeds, with the national strength of the Song Dynasty, I will not be able to tighten my belt for three months. What's the matter? If it doesn't work, it won't be too late to stop the military aid from the northwest."

"Three months to bring peace to Shu?"

Zhao Kuangyin really hesitated.

Then he glanced at Zhao Guangyi.

Zhao Guangyi said calmly: "I agree with the third brother's opinion. The Yizhou matter is indeed more important. At present, the only person in the court who has the ability to quickly put an end to the Shu rebellion is the third brother. Maybe we can give it a try."

"Aren't you always opposed to sinking too deep into the northwest? Why are you still in favor? Besides, it's not just Shu that is in crisis right now. Isn't Kaifeng at a critical moment? The New Deal reforms are also in full swing, and the three major projects are in full swing every day. There is so much money spent here, and the number of people working in the city is increasing day by day. Can Kaifeng be able to live without my third brother?"

Zhao Guangyi said: "I have always been against the third brother, and that was for outsiders to see. Now that we brothers talk behind closed doors, what else can I pretend to do? It is indeed impossible for the northwest and southwest to consume on two fronts, but for three months Time, we, the Song Dynasty, can indeed afford to wait. As the third brother said, the northwest is peaceful and only by regaining Yanyun in the future can we have a clear goal. If one day, the Xiao family and the Yelu family can meet each other in arms, these sixteen states of Yanyun Maybe we don’t need to use weapons and can be merged back directly, that’s still unclear.”

Zhao Guangmei glanced at Zhao Guangyi in surprise, thinking, let the royal family of Liao Kingdom compete with the descendants, and the descendants directly rebel against the Song Dynasty?How dare you think so?
"As for the New Deal, brother, you are worrying too much. The general direction of the New Deal has been set. All that is left is the step-by-step implementation. Xue Ju is presiding over the specific affairs, and Zhao Pu is cooperating in the court. I am in Kaifeng , will naturally do their best to check and fill the gaps for the implementation of the New Deal and integrate the general affairs. Even if the third brother leaves temporarily, as long as our court can work together, why worry about the new deal having setbacks? The merchant bank has temporarily left the third brother, but Big brother, third brother, you believe me, I will definitely take good care of this family for third brother."

Zhao Guangmei glanced at Zhao Guangyi speechlessly and said nothing, which was regarded as acquiescence.

Zhao Guangyi is the governor of Kaifeng and the largest shareholder of the company besides himself. If he leaves like this, the affairs of Kaifeng will really fall into his hands.

'Want to take back some of your power? '

On the other hand, he has actually supported the Skyscraper, using a bottom-up approach to deprive him of his authority as the governor of Kaifeng. This is really not for the purpose of fighting for power and gain.

First of all, he really needs people like Skyrat. Cars, boats, shops, feet and teeth are all normal occupations in modern society. Which city can't develop without this kind of occupation?A city can be without a prefect, but it cannot be without porters and boatmen.

However, in ancient times, when legal awareness was weak and the legal system was imperfect, this kind of occupation that was exposed to outsiders all year round could easily become a harbor for evil and evil. It was impossible for the government to control them all. If they were managed well, , so he needs to find someone like the Sky Rat to take charge of the court.

As for fighting for power with Zhao Guangyi, it is really not his main purpose now. He wants the power of Kaifeng Prefecture mainly for the convenience of doing things.

In the face of such major events as the stability of the northwest and the conflict between Song and Liao, it doesn't matter. Do whatever you want. If he doesn't object at this time, his trip will go much smoother.

Business matters are important, and state affairs are the most important thing.

When Zhao Kuangyin saw that Zhao Guangyi actually said the same thing, and Zhao Pu indeed had no objection, he nodded and agreed with Zhao Guangmei's idea.

Just as he was thinking about it, he saw the door of the main hall suddenly being knocked open by someone from the outside. Zhao Dezhao was so angry that he rushed in with a face full of dust: "I heard that Bashu rebelled? Did Bashu rebel? ? Dad, I’m going to put down the rebellion, and Bashu can’t make any mistakes.”

"What's the matter with you? You, go and think about your gunpowder."

"Dad, there is saltpeter in Shu. There is a lot of saltpeter. Besides, I still want to fight in Dali."

"What's Dali? I think you look like Dali."

"Oh, Dad, listen to me. Our Gunpowder Department must follow up on this matter. I have already found out a few days ago that the batch of gunpowder that the Liao Guo Trading Company recently made was saltpeter flowing out of Shu. They I did it myself. I thought it was caused by corruption by Wang Quanbin and others, so I sent people there to investigate. Who would have thought that there was already a fight there? It is hard to say whether there is Liao State behind those rebels. Support it.”

"Liao Kingdom, support Quan Shixiong?" Zhao Guangmei's heart moved.

Logically speaking, the Liao Kingdom is too far away from Sichuan and Shu. It is separated by more than half of Guanzhong, which is actually not very powerful. The Liao Kingdom has indeed not been very interested in the south of the Yellow River for many years, and even less interested in the south of the Yangtze River. I'm just too lazy to pay attention.

In fact, even if he wanted to help the Sichuan-Sichuan rebels, the gains outweighed the losses.

But Zhao Dezhao's words really reminded him.

Saltpeter!

Zhao Guangmei never thought of hiding the secret recipe of gunpowder. The secret recipe was as fragile as paper in the face of national strategic needs. The Liao Kingdom could definitely get it if they wanted to, but the Liao Kingdom did not produce saltpeter. Zhao Guangmei had the confidence to develop gunpowder weapons in the Song Dynasty.

Who knows where the Manchus and Qing Dynasties in history got their saltpeter.

Therefore, if there is an independent political power independent of the Song Dynasty, even if it cannot occupy the territory, and is only established in the deep mountains and old forests, as long as saltpeter can be mined and traded to the Liao Kingdom, this is actually extremely important to the Liao Kingdom. One more thing.

Besides, are Shu and Liao really incompatible?In fact, this trade can be done with the help of the Tibetan people. The saltpeter collected by the Sichuan people can be sold to the Qingtang Tubo, and then the Qingtang Tubo sells it to the Liugu Tubo, and the Liugu Tubo is now supported by the Liao Kingdom Only then could they compete with the party members who were supported by the Song people.

If it is a civilian product and the pursuit of commercial interests is to pursue commercial interests, there will be no profit in turning anything around in such a large circle. But if it is saltpeter, no matter how expensive it is, the Liao Kingdom will still have to buy it.

And in this way, they will have more reasons to help the six-grain Tubo, and the Uighurs are the most knowledgeable about business in the northwest region. If the road is out, then the war in the northwest will not stop at all.

草

With one move, the whole body was moved. It turned out that he was beaten back and forth, but actually, he was beaten back?
Are northwest and southwest the same thing?

"Brother, let Zhao'er come with me. The matter of saltpeter is of great importance and we must not be careless in the slightest. If I, the Song Dynasty, have any internal connections with foreign enemies and dare to steal saltpeter and sell it in the trade with Liao, we will be destroyed. Three tribes, but if there are rebels who dare to explore saltpeter and start trade with the Liao Kingdom, the nature of this will be completely different. If the Qingtang Tubo and Liugu Tubo are involved in this matter, we, the Song Dynasty, should indeed destroy it. Part two.”

(End of this chapter)