Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Li Jilong personally sent scouts to verify the situation, and then rewarded the herdsmen who reported the news. He personally led 500 people, including an artillery battalion, to rush out of the river valley for [-] miles into the grassland, and raided the rebel stronghold.

Beheaded more than 500 people, captured more than [-] people, and tens of thousands of cattle and sheep.

At the beginning of April, Han Derang led an army to besiege a rebel stronghold resting in a river valley, captured [-] people, and captured many cattle and sheep.

Under the successive blows, coupled with the increasing number of lotus castles in the valley, the living space was constantly squeezed to resist the attack of the grassland.

In this way, in June, the tribes of the grassland couldn't stand it. Many of their leaders directly killed and encouraged them to rebel against the old nobles of the Liao Kingdom, and sent their heads to the border fortress to the Qin army. At the same time, they expressed their willingness to continue to surrender in exchange for peace. , Let their livestock enter the valley to drink water, and they will continue to pay tribute to the Liao Kingdom as before.

When these and the news of the construction of the Lotus Fort defense line were sent to Daliang, Emperor Shi was naturally very happy, and rewarded Li Jilong and Han Derang for the military merits of the generals, and then agreed to the conditions of the grassland tribes.

However, Emperor Shi also explained to them in the letter that long-term peace is impossible, so they must always be prepared to prevent the grassland tribes from going south.

People often joke that machine guns make nomadic tribes good at singing and dancing, but in fact this is a one-sided view, because even in the 21st century, there are still many nomadic tribes in the world that are very good at fighting and cruel, such as some nomadic tribes in Africa.

It's just that their size and reputation are far less than that of Mongolia, which once stretched from the Sea of ​​Japan in the east to Vienna in the west. They are famous all over the world, so they are less known.

It is not that the development of weapons has made nomadic tribes less good at fighting, but the development of productivity and the improvement of living conditions have changed nomadic peoples. If everyone can easily live a good life without depending on the weather, no one is willing to lick it Blood.

But considering the current conditions, as long as they cannot survive due to natural disasters, the nomadic tribes on the grassland will inevitably go south, and precautions are necessary. Even if they don't come this year, they may not go south in the future.

This is why Emperor Shi wanted to build the Lotus Fort in the north.

.......

In the Mid-Autumn Festival in August of the fourth year of Kangding, the rebel army from the Western Regions sent envoys to Beijing to bring BMWs to the emperor. At the same time, they also secretly sent a map of the Hexi Corridor, mainly marking the gathering places and movements of the Tubo and Uighur tribes.

At the same time, there is a news that on June [-]th of this year, Cao Yuanzhong, the Jiedu envoy of the Guiyi Army, passed away. His nephew Cao Yangong was loved and recommended by the generals as the new Jiedu envoy, hoping that the emperor will approve.

Emperor Shi naturally agreed, and they came to ask just as a procedure, and it was useless to object, and it would offend others.

Cao Yuanzhong, who died, was posthumously presented, and eventually made him an official in Fengguo Baosai, Jiedu Envoy of Guiyi Army, Tejin, Calibration Taishi, Jianzhong Shuling, and King Xiping.

At the same time, the envoy also told Shi Congyun about the current situation of the Guiyi Army in a private meeting. Since Cao Yijin implemented the policy of uniting the surrounding tribes, he married Princess Shengtian of the Uighur Khan of Ganzhou before his death. One daughter married Uighur Khan of Ganzhou, and the other married Li Shengtian, king of Khotan. Later Jin canonized her as "Da Tian Kingdom with great dynasty, great government and great Ming, and all the titles of the heavens are the emperor of filial piety".

So at that time, they had a good relationship with the surrounding forces, which was not bad, but gradually with the differences in cultural customs, competition for living resources and other issues, they continued to conflict with the surrounding forces, but overall they were considered stable.

However, they do not want to be isolated in the western section of the Hexi Corridor, because they can still survive under the constraints of the surrounding tribes, but there is always a difference between trembling to survive in the cracks and returning to China.

Cao Tinggong also sent someone to bring a new letter, in which he stated their eager desire to return to the big country, and also talked about the difficulty of surviving among many forces. His words were sincere, and he said that if the big country can communicate with the Western Regions, they will surely Raise all manpower to help, and is willing to enter the court as an official.

Emperor Shi could see that this was a letter of loyalty, but he praised it, but he didn't fully believe it in his heart. There were many forces in that area and the situation was complicated. He was going to send an envoy to see it for himself.

Furthermore, Emperor Shi was not Emperor Sui Yang. He knew that it was a good thing to have ambition, and it was a good thing to want to do great things, but things in the world need to be done one by one, and one step at a time.

In the past few years, the imperial court has focused on digesting Liaodong and building a new line of defense in the north, but it has not been able to spare any effort.

Just like when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty stopped halfway through the management of the Southwestern Yi, he focused his energy on fighting the Huns in the north, and then dealt with the Southwest after the Huns were defeated.

This is a strategic priority. Although it seems that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty attacked everywhere, he attacked the Huns, Lingnan, Vietnam, the Southwest, the Western Regions, and North Korea, but he did not do it at the same time. There is also a priority, otherwise Yang Guang would be nothing compared to his military intensity.

The same is true of the current state of Qin. It seems that there are many countries and forces brought down by Emperor Shi, such as Nanping, Wuping, Shu, Southern Tang, Southern Han, Li Yun, Northern Han, Liao, etc... .

It can be regarded as opening bows on all sides and fighting against barbarians from all directions, but Emperor Shi never started a war on two fronts at the same time. When using troops to the south, he first stabilized the north, and when using troops to the north, he stabilized the south first.

The current situation is similar, assimilate the East and stabilize the West first, and wait for the East to stabilize before starting to deal with the West.

To digest the territory seized by the Liao Kingdom and stabilize the northern defense line, Emperor Shi expected in his heart that it would take at least five years.

Fortunately, the Liao Kingdom itself is also a country with deep Sinicization, so many local governance structures can be directly taken over, reducing the cost of taking over the rule.

This is a bit like South Vietnam at the beginning. After Qin Shihuang sent troops south to conquer Lingnan, he established a Sinicized ruling area. After continuous transformation and intensive cultivation, they were not assimilated by the local people, but assimilated by the local people, and established a Sinicized area. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty destroyed Nanyue In fact, the Han Dynasty could easily rule Lingnan, which was regarded as a barbarian land at the beginning, because the Nanyue Kingdom had been intensively cultivated.

The role of the Liao Kingdom to the north of Beikou, at the foot of the Great Xianbei Mountain, and the large area of ​​Inner Mongolia in later generations is roughly the same.

Although the Liao Kingdom was established by the Khitan people, their Emperor Gaozu was determined to be the Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, so that area was more Sinicized than the previous dynasties, and it was much more convenient for Qin to implement rule after it took over.

This was beyond Emperor Shi's expectation. In the thousands of miles from Beikou to Huangzhou, the degree of Sinicization was deeper than he had imagined, and the degree of resistance was much lower.

Chapter 560, State Affairs

By the beginning of the fifth year of Kangding, some disputes broke out in the northwest. Most of the party members in Shuofang and Dingnan in the south obeyed the rule of the imperial court after Li's entry into Beijing, but some tribes of party members living in the valley in the north did not obey the rule of the court, and turmoil broke out. .

They united from various ministries, gathered more than 600 people, attacked the counties north of Yinzhou, killed more than 100 people, including more than [-] soldiers, and ransacked a county.

Xiang Xun immediately sent troops to suppress, led 5000 people, including an artillery battalion, set off from Xiazhou, went west to Yinzhou, and joined Shuofang Army with 1 people to go north.

The war lasted for more than half a year. Xiang Xun successively defeated the Dangxiang-ren coalition forces in the valley to the north. He fought seven or eight battles, captured and beheaded more than 5000 people. A small group of rangers harassed the training army, but they couldn't fight a decisive battle.

The two sides confronted each other in the north of Yinzhou, and Xiang Xun would not be able to wipe them out for a while, but as time went on, the logistical supply became more and more difficult, and the confrontation between the army was exhausting.

When Emperor Shi knew about it, he immediately asked Shuofang to mobilize food support from the counties and counties around Dingnan Liangjun Town, so that they could continue to confront the rebels and not retreat southward.

Then he sent people eight hundred miles to expedite and made other arrangements. Today's world is no longer the world of 20 years ago. Emperor Shi is going to open the eyes of those who don't know the changes of the times, the current affairs, the reason, and the good and the bad. .

The Dangxiang rebels did not realize that the situation in the world had changed. The reason why the Dingnan army’s northern Dangxiang people used to fight against the imperial court was because their nomadic habits were serious and there was enough retreat.

But they forgot that it was possible in the past. They went north to avoid misfortune and entered the sphere of influence of the Liao Kingdom. The regime in the south did not dare to pursue it too deeply, so as not to provoke an all-out war with the Liao Kingdom, but now the Liao Kingdom is gone!

On the eastern front, the forces of the Qin State also crossed Yanshan early, and they were half-surrounded strategically. With the collapse of the Liao State, they had no capital or rear to deal with the Qin army.

So in the spring of the following year, when the weather warmed up in March, the battlefield won the biggest turning point.

Meng Xuanzhe, who originally built a new line of defense behind the mountain, was ordered to lead his troops westward. Under the guidance of the locals, he led an army of [-] troops out of the clouds, followed the original route of the Han army into the grassland, and then went west across the sphere of influence of the Liao people. , After about a month's march, they arrived near Yinshan Mountain and launched an attack from north to south.

The total number of men, women, and children who did not submit to the Qin Dynasty was about [-]. More than [-] young and strong people who could fight faced Xiang Xun's [-] troops in the south. In the past, that was their safe rear.

This time, the sudden attack from the rear completely messed up the situation, and the Qin army killed more than [-] enemies, captured more than [-] people, and countless cattle and sheep.

Drawing on the advanced experience of the nomadic guides, Meng Xuanzhe ordered the execution of all the men who passed the wheel of Van Gogh, because they could not take so many prisoners, and there was still a big war to be fought in the south.

Then the army went south and suddenly appeared behind the Dangxiang rebels. They fought on the east bank of the Yellow River at the end of March. , less than 3000 people survived in the end.

After this battle, Xiang Xun and Meng Xuanzhe shocked Hetao, and the local situation became more stable. The captured party members who survived were resettled and continued to live near Yinzhou.

After receiving the battle report, Emperor Shi rewarded Xiang Xun and Meng Xuanzhe, and at the same time ordered Hetao to build the Lotus Fort to Yinshan, as the first line of defense in that area.

........

Everything was carried out in an orderly manner, and occasionally there were some small episodes, but they did not affect the overall situation. For example, in the autumn of the sixth year of Kangding, some people rebelled in Liaodong, but they were quickly suppressed by the local Qin army. Find out what's going on.

In the winter of that year, some remnants of the party members who were originally driven to the grassland could not survive and surrendered to the Qin Dynasty in the south, and some were brought by the northern grassland tribes to reward the Qin border generals.

Between the autumn and winter of that year, another prince and three princesses were about to be born. Emperor Shi was very happy, and envoys from various countries did not dare to be late, and they all arrived at Daliang before the Mid-Autumn Festival to congratulate.

The envoys from Dali in the west asked for further communication. Emperor Shi agreed and asked them to send hostages to Beijing. Dali also agreed, and they understood the current situation in Qin very well. Send the young and beautiful princess.

Emperor Shi hesitated for half a second, and immediately agreed. This is also a contribution to the country, and it is duty-bound.

There was a reason for his worry, getting married was not a simple matter, one must know that the queen had great power.

Like the various princesses of the Han Dynasty who married to the south, the north, or the Western Regions, because they were married by a big country, many of them were regular wives, and many of them could greatly or even completely influence the military and political power of a country. In many cases, it is better than tens of thousands of troops.

So the relationship is not chaotic, but this time Emperor Shi is trying to stabilize Dali, and his current main energy will be spent on the northwest and north.

In history, Zhao Kuangyin drew the Dadu River as the boundary with his jade axe. Since then, Dali has become independent. Many people say that he is too timid, but in this era, everyone has to be timid when facing the Yunnan issue, because the lessons learned from the Tang Dynasty are before, so we have to be cautious.

The 20 Tang Dynasty army destroyed Yunnan, and then led to the Anshi Rebellion. The Tang Dynasty, which was once in full swing, fell apart and fell apart. It became the node where the Tang Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline. Everyone would be afraid of becoming a second Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Emperor Shi had already made a conclusion in his heart, that the region should take its time to eat the soft and not the hard.

But the situation in the northwest is extremely slow, and the more it is delayed, the more unfavorable it is, because the southwestern region was ruled by the Han Dynasty, and its heart is still kingly, but the Tubo tribes in the southwest and the Uighur tribe are different.

......

So in the seventh year of Kangding, as the situation in Liaodong stabilized and the northern defense line was completed, Emperor Shi began to gather troops and build barracks in the eastern section of the Hexi Corridor.

At the same time, efforts will be made to increase people's livelihood and rebuild Guanzhong.

In the same year, another prince was born.

In the same year, with the stability of the situation in Liaodong, Emperor Shi withdrew [-] troops from Liaodong, reducing military expenditure.

With the implementation of the new tax law, the national treasury has become more abundant year by year, Emperor Shi has become richer and richer, and the conditions for launching large-scale wars have become more sufficient.

However, Emperor Shi did not take any action, but made some internal changes. First of all, in addition to the Guozijian, a new national official academy lecture hall was started.

Because when he thought of Yunnan before, he also thought of the Yunnan Army Lecture Hall of later generations. He thought of balancing civil and martial arts, and the consideration of cultivating military talents for future generations. With the emperor as the dean, he strengthened the loyalty of military talents.

At the same time, because of the rise of artillery, mathematics has also become a compulsory course for military talents, especially grassroots officers, and middle and high-level generals. For this reason, Emperor Shi ordered to focus on the examination of arithmetic subjects in the imperial examinations, and to set up special subjects in the lecture hall teaching.

Due to the outstanding performance of the artillery in the war, whether it is recognized by soldiers or ordinary people, the status of mathematics has increased naturally.

Emperor Shi also added his quotations and military concepts into teaching during his busy schedule.

The secret department also gave Emperor Shi a lot of surprises. For example, they began to use the waterwheels previously used for water conservancy irrigation in the workshop manufacturing, and built hydraulic forging hammers, hydraulic blasts and other equipment.

It greatly improved the efficiency of ordnance manufacturing, and then began to be used in the construction of agricultural equipment, which accelerated the popularization of institutional agricultural equipment and improved production efficiency.

Emperor Shi was very happy, and while rewarding the confidential department, he ordered that it should be gradually promoted throughout the country.

What made Emperor Shi even more happy was that Sinong Temple also did something that made Emperor Shi happy and rewarded him greatly.

When the Qin State destroyed the Southern Han Dynasty, the ruler of the Southern Han Dynasty brought several large ships of gold, silver, treasures, various seeds, and beauties to escape the war, but was intercepted by the Qin army navy.

After those things were delivered to Daliang by boat, the officials of the Sinong Department applied to Emperor Shi to try planting those seeds in batches. It has been trial planting for many years now, and the best performing one is selected from the many rice varieties.

According to their research and trial planting in the past few years, the yield of this rice variety is at least double that of the previous mainstream rice varieties in the south, and it is of better quality.

In fact, they reported this matter the year before last, but Emperor Shi did not immediately approve it, because this matter is of great importance, and once it is implemented, it will affect the livelihood of the people, so he has been personally inspecting the production situation for the past few years.

It wasn't until this year that Emperor Shi finally confirmed that this rice variety was indeed very good, far better than the various rice varieties currently grown in the south. Emperor Shi thought of the famous Champa rice in later generations. He didn't confirm it, but the fact of the increase in production was unquestionable.

So it was also ordered that from next year, the new rice species will be gradually promoted to the whole country, mainly in Wuyue, Jiangnan, and Huainan regions first.

In order to dispel the worries of the people, Emperor Shi planned to not enforce it in the first year. The grain stored by the court would be distributed to the people free of charge, mainly on a voluntary basis, and it would be fully implemented in the next two years.

Chapter 561, Disagreement

"Officials, this year's grain production in the south of the Yangtze River has increased by [-]% compared to last year, and that in Guanzhong has increased by [-]%. The money and grain from Bashu in Guanzhong are enough to support the military in the Northwest.

We calculated that the number of troops sent would not exceed [-], and the money and food in the two places would be sufficient.

If you send more than [-] troops, you need to transport grain from Kanto (east of Tongguan). "In the imperial garden of the imperial city, Emperor Shi was listening to Li Fang's report in the pavilion.

There were some memorials in front of him, and Zhao Shijian was studying ink, ready to draw up orders for him at any time.

Everything is already familiar, and the officials have long been accustomed to the emperor's work model, so it is not surprising.

Emperor Shi thought about it for a while, and then looked at the map on the desktop. On it, he had marked the grain production of all parts of the country. Compared with the previous year, the areas where new rice varieties were introduced had greatly increased.

Even Zhunnan Shouzhou, which has the least growth, has increased by about [-]%, and the average growth rate of the whole country is close to [-]%, which is a very gratifying result.

The thing is that these added values ​​are enough to mobilize an army of [-].

However, although the Hexi Corridor has intricate forces, its strength is by no means comparable to that of the Liao Kingdom.

In the Battle of the Liao Dynasty, the total number of troops used by the emperor was about 20, the number of logistics personnel was close to 40, and the total mobilization was about 60. It was a very expensive war. Return blood.

But in comparison, fighting the Hexi Corridor does not require so much military power.

Emperor Shi had an estimate in his mind, the difficulty lies in the follow-up stability maintenance and control.

In fact, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took control of the Hexi Corridor, it has been very difficult to control it.

Because it faced the siege of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Mongolian Plateau at that time, when Han Wutong entered the Western Regions, he faced the siege of the Huns on the Mongolian Plateau and the Qiang people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

It's the same at the moment, it doesn't count if it is defeated, and the operation will cost a lot.

Emperor Shi calculated the information of all parties in his mind and planned the possibility of marching.

It is now the ninth year of Kangding, and five years have passed since the end of the Liao War. The Qin Dynasty has not been peaceful in these years.

There were some conflicts near Huangzhou, some rebellions in Liaodong, and a war between Hetao and Beidangxiang. The overall scale of the war was not large, and it cost a lot of money. The longest one lasted for a year, but fortunately it did not affect the situation of the whole country.

"Li Qing, what do you think of the current situation?" Emperor Shi asked.

Li Fang said, "What are the officials talking about?"

"The world has only rested for five or six years. If there is another army, will the people of the country be able to support it..."

Li Fang thought for a while before opening his mouth: "Officials, whether Qin Huang, Han Wu, or Emperor Taizong Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, generally have merits and demerits. As long as the world is not chaotic, many things are meritorious. In the ancestral world, descendants will comment on it.

For thousands of years, the pen of history is like iron, will the officials be afraid? "

Emperor Shi laughed.

For Emperor Shi, he has done a lot of bad reputation things, and he is not afraid of what others will write about it, so he can do whatever he wants.

"Stay here and have dinner with me. I still have a lot to ask you about Guanzhong and Northwest." As he said that, Emperor Shihuang had already made up his mind to use the Hexi Corridor.

Fan Zhi passed away last year, and the new generation represented by Li Fang, Dou Yi, Song Qi, Lu Duoxun, Zhang Qixian, Zhao Kuangyin, etc. gradually replaced the old Zaifu gang.

These people are all good in his hands, but in comparison, they all have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they are not completely reassuring like Fan Zhi.