Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Du Yingwu was extremely angry when he stepped on the territory of the Ming Dynasty again.

Not to mention that he was humiliated during his previous mission, just the things that Yang Zaixing did were enough to make Du Yingwu hate the Ming Dynasty for the rest of his life.

Yang Zaixing transferred Li Herong's Guangxi garrison to open up the line from Lang Son to Thang Long Prefecture. Then he transferred the local soldiers from Yongzhou, and the garrison was stationed in the big cities along the line, and the local soldiers were stationed in the small cities along the line.

Then, he began to abduct the people of Thang Long Prefecture, which lasted for more than three months, with an average of 30,000 people escorted every month!

These were not domestic immigrants, and their treatment was not even as good as that of the Ming Dynasty's exiles.

There were many escapees and casualties along the way. Only 70,000 to 80,000 people in Thang Long Prefecture were able to walk to Lang Son alive, and only 60,000 to 70,000 were left when they arrived in Guangxi.

Yang Yinger, the Taiwei of Annan, also tried to attack the Ming army responsible for the escort.

As a result, more than 10,000 Annan troops ambushed 2,000 Ming field troops, but were defeated and fled.

Moreover, the Ming army suffered only a hundred casualties.

On the contrary, thousands of captured Annan people took advantage of the battle between the two armies to escape.

After Yang Zaixing left, Du Yingwu led his troops back to take over Thang Long Prefecture. There were only more than a thousand households left in the entire city, and many of them returned with their families after learning that the Ming army had withdrawn.

"Sister, Luoyang is ahead." Du Yingwu said as he walked into the cabin.

Empress Dowager Du sighed: "If I can bring about peace between the two countries, it will be considered as accumulating virtue for my descendants."

Du Yingwu gritted his teeth and said: "This revenge must be avenged!"

The reason why the siblings said this was not only because Thang Long Prefecture was looted, but also because the situation along the way was particularly miserable.

The military discipline of the Ming field army and the garrison army was acceptable, and the local soldiers of Yongzhou were no different from bandits in Annan. These barbarian soldiers from Guangxi were sent to garrison the small towns along the way, burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of evil, causing great harm to the people of Annan.

There were also Annan's own defeated soldiers and the escaped captured people who also robbed everywhere in that area. Such evil deeds were all counted on the Ming army.

From Thang Long Prefecture to Lang Son, nine out of ten houses along the route were empty!

Not many people were killed, mainly because they were scared and fled their hometowns.

Queen Mother Du advised: "After you return to the country, you must assist my son well. His prestige has plummeted in this battle, and the big families in the country are ready to move. Fortunately, there is Yang Yinger to stabilize the situation."

"I save it." Du Yingwu said.

Taiwei Yang Yinger suffered a series of defeats and allowed the Ming army to attack Thang Long Prefecture.

King Li Yanghuan did not take the opportunity to reduce his military power, but continued to entrust him with important tasks. This made Yang Ying'er grateful and he actively gathered the remaining soldiers to suppress the rioters. At the same time, it also made the forces in the country dare not act rashly.

Gradually, Yang Ying'er took the blame, while the king Li Yanghuan sat firmly on the throne.

Du Yingwu was promoted to the commander of the Sima infantry in the palace because he defeated the coalition forces of Champa and Zhenla and captured Wuzhou in Champa.

The Annan Imperial Army was thus controlled by Du Yingwu. When he successfully returned from his mission to the Ming Dynasty, he would probably be granted a title.

The commander of the palace, the founding monarch of the Li Dynasty of Annan, was in this position when he was crowned with the yellow robe!

Du Yingwu said "this revenge must be avenged", but what he thought in his heart was that his nephew died early, leaving an orphan and a widow, and he would be the regent again.

At that time, he could freely choose whether to be the regent or to be crowned with the yellow robe.

That afternoon, the official ship arrived in Luoyang.

The Annan envoys were led to the Sifang Pavilion. This time, they did not bring any auspicious beasts, but only paid tribute with a lot of wealth.

The officials of the Honglu Temple came to receive them and took away Annan's letter of request for a title, which meant that the Ming Dynasty would officially enthrone the king of Annan.

The next day, the Xixia envoy Cao Tuan moved in and replaced the original envoys stationed in the Ming Dynasty.

Empress Dowager Du looked outside through the round arch and asked, "Are those also foreign envoys from the Ming Dynasty?"

Du Yingwu said, "I have inquired about it. They are new envoys from Xixia. Xixia envoys have lived in the Sifang Pavilion for a long time, and they have to change envoys every two or three years. It seems that this is still a lucrative job. Xixia officials are scrambling to come to the Ming Dynasty to stay permanently."

Empress Dowager Du sighed, "It seems that Xixia and the Ming Dynasty have very good diplomatic relations. I hope that Dai Viet and the Ming Dynasty can be the same."

The Xixia envoys, who have very good diplomatic relations, were scolded by the officials of the Honglu Temple that day.

"If the Xixia herdsmen dare to cross the border again, it will be fine if there is no dispute, but if they hurt the border residents of our Ming Dynasty, we will definitely send a large army to attack Xixia!"

"I dare not, our country will strictly control the border residents."

The Xixia envoy Cao Tuan hurriedly apologized.

Cao Tuan is the younger brother of Xixia Concubine Cao Xian, the uncle of Xixia Prince, and the grandson of the former Xixia Taiwei.

His ancestor is Cao Yijin (Zhang Yichao's grandson-in-law), the governor of Guiyi Army.

Cao Tuan said: "This time it is purely because the border residents are stupid and accidentally crossed the border of the Ming Dynasty. My master has severely punished those border residents."

After sending the Honglu Temple officials away with great difficulty, Cao Tuan returned to the courtyard and sighed.

The Ming Dynasty is too bad. The border population is insufficient, but it actually lured Xixia border residents!

There are only three or four places in Xixia where food can be grown.

One of them is the line from Hengshan to Tiandu Mountain and then to Lanzhou. For the Ming Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, it was a barren border area, but for the Western Xia, it was fertile land suitable for farming and grazing.

The Northern Song Dynasty built strongholds and encroached on the territory, and the Ming Dynasty recovered the Northern Song Dynasty's territory, which severely compressed the strategic space of the Western Xia Dynasty and caused a decrease in the amount of grain produced in the Western Xia Dynasty.

The herders and farmers on the border of the Western Xia Dynasty became increasingly poor, and the Ming Dynasty actually promoted more favorable tax policies through smugglers.

The first to try to cross the border were the agricultural and pastoral slaves. They could not stand the increasingly serious exploitation and tried their best to escape to the territory of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, they were immediately settled and given land and livestock, and directly turned from slaves into self-employed farmers.

Then, the poor farmers and herders on the border of the Western Xia Dynasty also crossed the border one after another to join the Ming Dynasty.

These people had no sense of national identity. They used to be sandwiched between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty, and they suffered every time they fought. Either they served as soldiers for the Western Xia Dynasty or the Northern Song Dynasty, and no matter who they served, they were cannon fodder.

Now that the Ming Dynasty is stronger and treats the people well, the border people of the Western Xia Dynasty voted with their feet and ran over.

The Tangut border tribes, who had lost their herdsmen and tenants, could not bear the loss of population, so they crossed the border to the Ming Dynasty to capture slaves.

At the beginning of this year, the two sides fought.

The Ming Dynasty's garrison in the Hengshan area killed and captured hundreds of Tangut tribesmen, and even crossed the border to kill in Xixia!

After the conflict broke out, Li Qianshun was quite worried and hurriedly sent his brother-in-law to the Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, he was only scolded.

Cao Tuan stayed in Sifang Pavilion for a few days and found that the conflict did not affect the relationship between the two countries, so he put his mind at ease and enjoyed the prosperity of Luoyang.

The Japanese envoy to Ming Dynasty was also replaced. This time, the chief envoy was called Henei Jingguo, and he also brought a foreign student named Taira no Kiyomori.

Taira no Kiyomori is seventeen years old this year. Due to Japan's reform of customs, he did not dye his teeth black.

This kid carries a Japanese sword on his waist and wanders around Luoyang all day long.

In two months, the new semester of the Imperial College will start, and Taira no Kiyomori will go to the "International Class".

The International Class of the Imperial College only recruits children of foreign nobles. There is not much to teach. First, the students are enlightened, then they learn Confucian classics, and then various poems and articles.

"Cousin, I heard that there is a martial arts school a few miles outside the city." Taira no Kiyomori got the news of the military school from somewhere.

Kawachi Nobukuni's surname is actually Minamoto, and he is the first heir to the Minamoto clan. He missed the position of family head because of family infighting.

Taira no Kiyomori is his cousin, and Minamoto no Yoshitomo is his cousin.

Kawachi Kiyomizu warned: "Don't spy recklessly, it's a military stronghold."

Taira Kiyomori said: "I came to the Ming Dynasty not to study Confucian classics, but to learn the Ming Dynasty's military tactics. Iwami Castle has been occupied by the Ming Dynasty. When I inherit the Taira family business, I will lead troops to take back Iwami!"

"You are too young, you can only say such nonsense," Kawachi Kiyomizu said worriedly, "and when the two countries are at war, food and weapons are the most important. If you only learn military tactics, you can't beat the Ming army."

Taira Kiyomori said: "You should steal the iron cannon method of the Ming Dynasty."

Kawachi Kiyomori said: "You can't learn it secretly in Luoyang, you should secretly contact gunpowder craftsmen in coastal cities. First learn how to refine gunpowder, and then find out how the iron cannon sprays gunpowder. The mandarin duck formation used by the Ming army in Iwami, I have bribed the warriors who defected to the Ming army, and found out a little bit of the essence of it."

"Please teach me the mandarin duck formation, cousin!" Taira Kiyomori said excitedly.

Hanoi Jingguo sighed. He knew that Japan's real weakness was not weapons and food.

It was domestic issues!

Hanoi Jingguo's father was the legitimate son of the Genji clan, and his mother was the legitimate daughter of the Taira clan. He had the blood of both clans, but he watched the conflict between the two clans intensify. And the emperor... well, now called the king, the king could not control the local counties.

Japan was a mess with serious internal strife, so what if it had firearms?

Hanoi Jingguo came to the Ming Dynasty to learn how to govern the country. He wanted to solve Japan's domestic problems.

Although, this was a dream.

Cao Tuan had been wandering in Luoyang for a few days and took the initiative to meet with the Japanese envoy.

Both sides could speak Chinese, and Cao Tuan was even a Han Chinese.

After exchanging greetings, Cao Tuan asked, "Brother Jingguo, have you heard of Bodhisattva Man?"

"The previous envoy to the Ming Dynasty has said that I heard that Bodhisattva Man's dancing skills are extremely amazing." Hanoi Jingguo said.

Cao Tuan said with a smile: "Why not call the Annan envoy as well, and we will go to visit together. The envoys of the three countries have come together, and the Alanruo Courtyard should give some face and let the Bodhisattva Man come out to drink with us."

Although Hanoi Jingguo was worried about state affairs, he was also very active in such things. He had a lot of fun in Japan.

So, the two of them went to visit Du Yingwu together.

Du Yingwu said: "Tomorrow I will send my sister to the palace. Let's go after leaving the palace."

Cao Tuan was a little confused. He saw that Du Yingwu was about 30 years old. Wouldn't his sister be more than 30 years old? Can such a woman be sent to the Ming Palace?

Cao Tuan clasped his fists and said: "Congratulations, Annan has also married the Ming Dynasty. I, the princess of Daxia, also married the emperor of the Ming Dynasty as a concubine. From now on, you and I are relatives."

"That's right." Du Yingwu was ashamed to say it and was not convenient to reveal more.

The matter of the king offering his mother as a sacrifice was not a big deal in Annan, but it would be too embarrassing if it was brought to the Ming Dynasty and told to envoys from other countries.