Since ancient times, talented people have been born in the Red Chamber

Chapter 638: Zhao Xu’s three-step plan begins (first update)
Chapter 647

Zhao Xu's sharp eagle eyes swept across the prostrate civil and military ministers in front of him, saw Gao Taotao's encouraging eyes, cleared his throat, and began to speak loudly.

"My dear friends, this year marks the tenth year of Yuanyou, and it is also the first year of my personal rule. Now, our Song Dynasty Tiger Ben is so brave and courageous. It is worthy of being the cornerstone of our Song Dynasty to consolidate the country and defend the borders..."

"...Since the war at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the princes seized the people and turned them into soldiers. In order to prevent the forced soldiers from fleeing, they tattooed the faces of the innocent people to prevent them from fleeing. But my Song Dynasty is the master of the world, and I have always ruled the country with benevolence and righteousness. ..."

Following Zhao Xu's methodical explanation, the final sentence was that starting from New Year's Day in the tenth year of Yuanyou, the Song Dynasty military will no longer continue to recruit soldiers, which is obviously humiliating. procedures.

After hearing the news, the ministers present, especially the generals, loudly praised the Emperor of the Song Dynasty for his wisdom, martial arts, and benevolence.

With the good news of Shaanxi Road and the arrival of the team of prisoners of war, and the emperor issued an edict to abolish the pain of tattooing on the faces of soldiers.In the [-]th year of Yuanyou's New Year's Day, the Grand Court Meeting plunged the entire Tokyo Bianliang into a state of carnival.

Proud and elated, Gang Gang's elated, for so many years, although the Great Song Dynasty was very rich and prosperous, its military power seemed to be not strong enough. The Northern Expedition had been repeated many times, but all ended in failure.

Even the little Xixia can jump up and down in front of the Song Dynasty, causing the Song Dynasty to lose ground in the northwestern border, and in the end they can only give New Year coins to buy peace.

Even so, there were still constant border conflicts, and the Song Dynasty could only take a defensive stance, whether it was facing the Northern Liao in the north or the weak Xixia.

It took decades of hard work with water. Although some sites have been regained, overall, there has been little progress.What's more, the previous battle of Yongle City made Da Song almost extinguish his desire to advance northward.

Now, after the literary and elegant scholar Su became the pacifier of the Shaanxi Road Economic Strategy, the army of the Song Dynasty suddenly seemed to be a different person. It can be described as a series of victories. teacher.

The empress dowager who also captured Xixia and many important ministers, and now she directly captured Yanzhou, Youzhou, and Hongzhou with lightning speed, and made the Xiangguo of Xixia have to bow down. He led an army of [-] Xixia troops to surrender.

Such good news is really exciting for the common people, and it can definitely make everyone eat at least one or two more bowls in one meal.

The important thing is that whether it is the battle of Hongdezhai, or persuading Xixia Liang Xiangguo to surrender, no one can hide the light of Wushan, the champion of literature in the ninth year of Song Yuanyou.

His talent was even said by Su Dongpo, a great writer, that he could live at his right hand, and his strategy was even more elusive, no less than that of Zhang Liang of the Han Dynasty.

The names of Su Dongpo, Han Zhongyan, Wang Wushan, Zhang Li, Zhong Shidao, Zhe Keshi, Zhe Kexing, Ma Shang and other meritorious ministers are even more familiar to people.

#####
The next day, the emperor personally presented the prisoners to the ancestral temple to comfort the ancestors, and let the ancestors who have been under the nine springs and above the nine heavens see that the descendants of your family are very proud and will give you a hard blow. It's so grand that even the Empress Dowager of Xixia was captured by our Song Dynasty Huben.

However, when this good news spread in Bianliang, Tokyo, the imperial capital of the Song Dynasty, the envoys from various countries staying in Bianliang, Tokyo couldn't help but feel panic in their hearts. Even the envoys from Northern Liao couldn't help but feel shocked and angry at this moment. .

Before, I thought it was just that Xixia was too careless and arrogant, so that he lost troops and lost generals. As for the Xiaoliang who was captured by Song Dynasty, as long as Xixia can afford enough price, then we, Beiliao, can replace them. Fight Da Song in the ring.

But it never occurred to me that Da Song won again, and this time it was not in the territory of Da Song, but the army of Da Song took the initiative to attack and took the three states of Xixia in succession.

The southern borderland of Xixia was almost divided into two, and even the Song Dynasty's military front was less than [-] miles away from Xingqing Mansion, the hinterland of Xixia.

After confirming the authenticity of the news, the Bei Liao envoy already knew that these matters were beyond his ability to make decisions, and immediately sent a fast horse messenger to Bei Liao.

And the Song Dynasty's successive victories against Xixia also made many small countries that were originally near the Xixia control area start to move around.

After the New Year's Day meeting, there is a rest day that lasts for more than ten days. However, not everyone has the time and opportunity to rest.

After tasting the fruits of victory, the Empress Dowager Gao Taotao discussed with Zhao Xu and decided to agree to Wang Yang's suggestion to the Emperor of the Song Dynasty to ensure the production output of Yuan Youjia in the Song Dynasty.

Another option is to gradually reduce the size of the armor-making workshops in various states of the Song Dynasty. In the future, the armor-making workshops in the Song Dynasty will gradually be reserved only in Bianliang, Tokyo.

In addition, the production of Yuanyou Crossbow must ensure a production rate of at least [-] units per month, and no longer produce divine arm crossbows and other long-range weapons whose range and power are inferior to Yuanyou Crossbow.

In this way, the versatility of the crossbow arm and the crossbow body of the Song Dynasty is guaranteed, and there will be no damage to one crossbow arm and one crossbow body. However, due to the difference in models, it cannot be replaced and combined into a continuous shooting weapon.

Of course, bows will continue to be produced. After all, bows are more for civilian use than military use. After all, most of the long-range weapons used in the Song army are crossbows, and bows account for less than one-third.

In addition, Wang Yang mentioned repeatedly in his separate memorials that the Song Dynasty should keep gunpowder weapons confidential to prevent such weapons, which were far more advanced than bows and crossbows, from being mastered by Northern Liao and Xixia.

The other is the danger of gunpowder weapons. In the end, it will be built in a new location, and it will be necessary to send troops to guard it closely.
Although the Empress Dowager Gao Taotao didn't take it seriously, fortunately, Zhao Xu, the emperor of the Song Dynasty, had already regarded Wang Wushan as a heavenly man, and he was very superstitious about his words and deeds.

For this reason, Zhao Xu specially ordered to choose a remote place in the east of Bianliang City, Tokyo, and re-establish a workshop for making gunpowder weapons.In addition, a thousand forbidden troops were specially dispatched to guard it closely, and the heavy responsibility of supervision of the gunpowder weapon workshop was handed over to Zhao Ji, who is now in charge of the military weapon supervision bow and crossbow workshop, who is now succeeding Wang Wushan.

#####
After Su Dongpo sent out the victory report, Zhang Kai moved his command post forward and personally rushed to Yanzhou, the salt-producing center in the northwest that he had finally recaptured, to take charge.Han Zhongyan was stationed in Hongzhou, Jianing Military Division, and Zhongshidao was stationed in Youzhou.

Zhe Kexing commanded [-] elite cavalry to patrol and respond. As for the ancient city of Wuyan, they continued to bombard the city once a quarter of an hour every day.

So far, five or six days have passed, and the morale of Xixia soldiers in the entire ancient city of Wuyan is so low that it is impossible to extricate themselves.

(End of this chapter)