Chapter 244: The Xixia people in the fire

There is no financial crisis in Zhao Xing now.

Liang Yibi said this sentence from the original remnants of Helan. It is said that Zhao Xing planned to demolish the original Helan city wall and the government courtyard wall at that time, and even the bricks and tiles in these two places were not spared. He once said this word, which roughly means: Although I spent a lot of money, it was a deficit economy. Now the deficit gap is getting bigger and bigger, and foreign capital must be attracted to fill the gap. These bricks and tiles are all money, which is just used to alleviate my financial crisis...

When Zhao Xing said this, the old butler of Helan Yuanfu Zun was right next to him. When the butler was in a broken city, he changed into civilian clothes and hid in the folk. He happened to be recruited by Zhao Xing to dismantle it in the city lord's mansion. The old butler with great hatred swallowed and recorded every word Zhao Xing said. Then, because he was old and weak, he was not tied back to Huanqing as a prisoner, so this sentence was passed on to Xixia. But the Xia people didn't know that Zhao Xing spoke this word to fool the ancients. His original intention was to tell others: Although I spent a lot of money in Huanqing, in fact, Huanqing was very short of money, so it was too short to use "grass and trees" to fight.

Since Zhao Xing arrived in Huanqing and suffered a great loss to the people of Xixia, the people of Xia have begun to pay close attention to Zhao Xing's every move. They began to collect Zhao Xing's information in detail and found that since the "dog official" arrived in Huanqing, he has brought many new industries to Huanqing - big windmills, big water wheels, metal armor, metal crossbows, etc. With the great changes in Huanqing, many new words brought by Zhao Xing have also been circulating in Huanqing. Now in Huanqing, he does not say a few new words that comfort the adults like, and he is embarrassed to say hello to others when he goes out.

Because Huanqing is more vigilant, and Zhao Xing himself is a businessman, he is very familiar with using merchants to collect information. Under his strict control, the Xia people are no longer as insightful about Huanqing's situation as before. The more they want to try their best to understand everything about Huanqing and everything about Zhao Xing, the more they find that the fragmented news they learned has made them unable to understand Zhao Xing, and the more they understand it, the more they are shocked...

Therefore, the new words that Zhao Xing spoke were popular in Xixia. The Xia people felt that as long as they understood the meaning of the new words Zhao Xing, they could figure out the secret of Huanqing's rise.

However, Liang Yibi obviously used the wrong word here - unfortunately, the Xia people didn't know, they just thought this was too rapeseed, and they took out their pens to record the "highest instructions" mentioned by the wise prime minister.

In that month, the plan to be soldiered by the grass and trees was exposed - Jing Liangcai and Qin Dan wrote a letter at the same time, introducing in detail the situation of the Huanqing Road they learned about, and formally talking about the plan to "grapes and trees are soldiers". Then, Fan Chuncui also wrote a letter to explain in detail the operation of the plan.

This was like a super earthquake, its shock to thinking made the court collectively absent.

Afterwards, Qin Fenglu's strategic envoy Lu Dazhong and Liu Zhi, the left-behind officer of Daming Prefecture, wrote a letter, accusing him vaguely: Zhao Xing's actions were too cruel and vicious to the people of Xixia...

Jia Yi also followed the trend and wrote a letter saying: This move slaughtered thousands of miles away, and left a hundred years of poisoning, and did not agree with the teachings of the saints. According to the teachings of the saints, we should conquer people with virtue, "cultivating benevolence and virtue internally to govern the world." Seeing that we are so morally noble, the four barbarians immediately bowed and fell to our feet. So we "drug with hunches"... In short, Zhao Liren should not be so cruel to the enemy, and even did something like poisoning. We must "conquer people with virtue."

However, these people's weak and powerless doubts were immediately submerged in the memorials of the border guards. In the memorials, they said in unison: The prefectures and counties they are in are not much better than Huanqing, and the military and materials are in a difficult situation, and this "plan of all plants and trees" is also needed to implement the "plan of all plants and trees" and hope that the court can dispatch experienced officials from Huanqing Road to implement this plan.

These people said with striking remarks: "Huanqing Road has been fighting for years, but this plan has been implemented for only one year. The enemy dared not step into Huanqing to grazle cattle and sheep, so that the people's strength can be alleviated. In just one year, Huanqing has the ability to counterattack. Facing the Khitans (Xixia people) periodically plundering grass-grazing valleys, I wish I could sprinkle poison on the land to prevent them from grazing. Now Zhao Li people can plant poisonous weeds. It's great that the court cannot favor one or the other, and only let Huanqing Road plant poisonous weeds, and we are not allowed to plant. This is unfair, it is unfair to me, unfair to the people under my jurisdiction, and unfair to our dynasty..."

The court ministers had no sense of confidentiality, and the debate was quickly spread to the Western Xia of the Zhufan Pavilion in the capital. The people of Xixia suddenly realized: I told you why our cattle and sheep passed through the border and ate Song grass. The mild ones were seriously ill, and the severe ones died for no reason...

Just as the people of Xixia were terrified and they should not go to Song to grazing easily, another incident occurred in the Xixia grassland, and a fire suddenly ignited in the four realms.

In the early winter, the grasslands were dry, and the grassland herders were most afraid of the grassland fire. It is reported that the Xixia grassland has recently ignited a strange fire. All the fire points magically connected into a straight line. Each fire point lasted for more than 50 miles, and all the fire points burned almost at the same time. This strange phenomenon immediately made the people of Xixia understand that someone was deliberately setting fire. The Xixia messengers came out everywhere and asked the major military departments to search for the arsonists when they had spare energy. Immediately afterwards, the Xixia court urgently mobilized the military departments to join the fire-fighting operation.

But the fire on the grassland rekindled, and was stubborn like psoriasis. While the Xixia people were in a state of panic to put out the fire, scouts were all over the grasslands to look for the arsonists. Finally, they had gained the rewards in searching the internet everywhere. A scout intercepted three arson men, and these three were also Dangxiang people. Seeing that the Western Xia cavalry approached, they could not escape. They took out an iron rod-like thing from the arson and held it in their arms, then ignited the bomb in their arms, and blew up their bodies and iron rods.

All signs pointed to the Song people. Although the arsonist was Dangxiang people, this kind of thing that could produce violent explosions came from Huanqing Road. The angry Xixia people tried to restore the arsonist carried by the arsonist, but found that because the stick was missing, the restored arsonist could not work normally.

According to the scout's description, the arsonist carried a jar the size of a saddle on his shoulder and an iron pipe in his hand. With one lift, the iron pipe spewed out a long stream of flames. Wherever the flames sprayed, there was a sea of ​​fire.

The arsonists exploded on their own until they died, and often deformed the can on their backs. The Xixia people speculated based on the fragments they found that this was a thin metal, something similar to a water tank, and it contained strong tinder oil. The Xixia craftsmen guessed that there must be some device to press out the hot tinder oil, causing the hot tinder oil to spray out the iron pipe in a spray state... But unfortunately, the fragments they found were not enough to restore the machine, so that they racked their brains and only came up with a thing close to the water tank on their backs.

In December, heavy snow gradually extinguished the grassland fires, and the tribes on the front line suffered heavy losses. The food and grass for the winter were burned out by the fire. Most of the livestock were killed by the smoke and fire. The smaller springs were dried up by the fire. The Xixia army on the front line was forced to retreat by the fire for 300 miles. In this surging fire, the Song army was only hiding in the three Sichuan entrances, unscathed.

The people of Xixia immediately submitted a letter to the court, accusing the Song army of tyranny, causing the people of Xixia to be destroyed and displaced... This letter was also passed on to Huanqing Road, and the words were even more intense. However, it is said that the black-hearted recruitment and comforting on Huanqing Road made the envoy of Xixia willingly receive the Xixia envoy, denied that the matter was related to him, and then asked very kindly: "You said that the people of Xixia 'family lost and displaced,' then, will they still have the strength to attack my Song Dynasty next year?"

Such arguing can appear in the history of human diplomacy, which is absurd enough.

The ministers in the Song Dynasty court immediately discussed how to deal with the enemy of Xixia. They originally planned to punish Zhao Xing slightly. Later, Zhao Xing's words were passed to the court, and at the same time, Fan Chuncui's firm support was also supported by Fan Chuncui.

Now even the ministers of the court were embarrassed. The Privy Councilor Wang Yansou suggested in a twisted manner: "Western Xia is the enemy country! Although we visit continuously every year, we should also see what kind of visit it is - kill my soldiers, capture my subjects, occupy my land, and send greetings during festivals. Do we forget the blood feud of the Western Xia?

Now that the Xixia year is over, it is better to ignore the Xixia envoys when fighting on Huanqing Road. Xixia has the responsibility to ask Mr. Fan Chun to deal with it. His mouth will definitely not allow the Xixia people to get a little advantage..."

What was the final result of the court ministers' discussion? Outsiders do not know, but after this grand meeting, the court issued an edict: The apple trees planted on Mizhou and Huanqing Road are all controlled resources, and are prohibited from being sold to the outside world, and are prohibited from climbing and breaking at will. If you want to introduce seedlings elsewhere, you need to be under the surveillance of the government. Each surviving apple tree must be registered with the government, and you will privately cut down more than three branches of the apple tree, which is a serious crime.

This law was later called: "Apple Order".

There is also a law on the implementation of grass planting plans in the Apple Order, which also means that even planting grass on Huanqing Road can make money. Just selling grass seeds to surrounding prefectures and counties can make farmers make a fortune...

However, these are no longer what Zhao Xing cares about. What he is concerned about now is how to cash out the spoils.

With the help of tea and medicine money allocated by the court and sealing the piles, Zhao Xing bought the captured items of the soldiers involved in the war - well, this is like paying money to the right hand with his left hand. Can the left hand treat his right hand with his wrong treatment?

The soldiers participating in the war quickly exchanged the spoils for cash. With money in their hands, their desire to fight was stronger - to put it bluntly, the desire to rob in Xixia was stronger.

It is not good to rob the robbery, and the quality of the ordnance distributed by the court is not satisfactory, so they began to use their own money to purchase ordnance war equipment. Because now all the ordnance workshops have shares and control, they are equivalent to paying the money given by the court to the government.

Huge amounts of money flowed continuously, and the economy on Huanqing Road became active. The workshops opened at the beginning of the year began to make profits by the end of the year. Due to the prosperity of commercial transactions, the commercial tax on Shaanxi Road also rose sharply - the imperial court did not collect this money, and it was left to Shaanxi Road for war expenses.

With money, Zhao Xing began to busy sending money to the people of Huanqing Road. He was determined to let the people of Huanqing Road experience the benefits brought to them by the war and let them know that no matter what business is done in the world, it is not a big profit to start a war. People are not afraid of being poor, go to war, and defeat the people of Xixia to be rich.

That winter, Zhao Xing began to patrol the vicinity of Huanqing Road with mountains of grain and grass, and gave everyone a few kilograms of meat, a few kilograms of wine, and a bag of grain...

The envoy of the Western Xia rushed to Zhao Xing at the mouth of Guidechuan. When he climbed the walls of Guidebao under the leadership of the Song army, the Song army officers present were busy putting a small golden cylinder into their arms, and then pretending to be nothing.

The envoy of Xixia glanced at the Song army on the wall and took a deep breath of air conditioning.

Now the equipment of the Song army is completely different. Qin Dan gave a detailed explanation of the development of Huanqing Road and explained to the court that the price of armor and warriors on Huanqing Road was more than ten times cheaper than that of the capital. Compared with long-distance transportation, the road was seriously damaged. It would be better to allow himself to raise military funds on Huanqing Road in the future. The court immediately approved this memorial. Then, Zhao Xing used the money to seal the pile to purchase weapons and armor to equip his troops.

Now it is just the beginning. Eighty percent of the soldiers on Huanqing Road have changed their clothes. The senior generals are wearing green Tang armor (plate armor), and even soldiers can wear soft golden silk armor and wrap their heads together. So much so that the Western Xia envoys looked over and saw only a sea of ​​metal. The silver armor set off the sunlight, and the dazzling people couldn't open their eyes.

Zhao Xing saw the envoy of Xixia squinted his eyes to observe. He knew what the other party was thinking and smiled kindly. Without waiting for the other party to speak, he bowed and thanked: "Thanks to the Xia people for their years of invasion, our Shaanxi soldiers and civilians finally realized. They knew that war made the weak Xixia stronger and stronger. Now they learned to use the Xixia people's means to deal with Xixia. Once they awaken, we are different from the Xia people. Behind us are the support of the entire rich Song Dynasty and the support of ten thousand compatriots, we will also fight stronger and stronger.

Look, Xia Envoy, tell the Prime Minister Liang Yiphi about everything you see, and tell him that this is just the beginning. I just threw a small stone into the water, and now the aftermath is rippling. Immediately, the Fuyan Road, Jingyuan Road, and Qinfeng Road will be affected by these waves... From now on, Shaanxi is the Hyogo of my Song Dynasty, and the source of war in my Song Dynasty.

If you come to me to complain. Stop it! Everyone has to pay the price for their behavior: when you go to the battlefield, you must be prepared to bear the responsibility for defeat; when you sit at the gambling table, you must be willing to accept the loss. Once you are defeated, don’t be like a scoundrel and get back the gambling funds. The most important thing to complain about is the Xia people. I have been bullied by Huanqing Road for decades, and as a result, we have endured a hundred years of war. Now, it’s our turn to be a banker.

Go back and tell every Xia people what you see, tell them that the counterattack of the Song Dynasty has begun. You can’t get anything you can’t get on the battlefield, or at the negotiating table.”

The envoy of Xixia did not understand what Zhao Xing said, because he received education since childhood: the country of the Celestial Empire should endure the bullying of its neighbors with great mercy and leniently ignore the looting of its surrounding countries, and wait for these countries to realize themselves after reading the teachings of the saints. According to the teachings of the saints, the locals raised their swords to the enemy when they invaded, which means "using violence to combat violence is not benevolence or righteousness."

But now Zhao Xing's toughness has broken his cognition.

After a few breaths, the envoy of the Western Xia was questioning in a slight sense: "Sir, is the fire in this winter and summer situation taken by the Song army?"

Zhao Xing yawned and said lightly: "God punishes, what do you care about me... This is the last reply, please step back. I am so lazy that I don't want to say more."

The envoy of Xixia shook his sleeves and rushed down the city tower angrily. Behind him, the laughter of the Song army officer came. He was both angry and anxious. At this moment, he was so angry that he was dizzy when he saw something.

He saw a man who looked like a burgundy, carrying a water can on his shoulder, holding a metal nozzle in his hand, watering the flowers in a silence. The thin iron tube in his hand sprayed out mist-like water splashes on the petals, and the water droplets were like dewdrops, which were simply beautiful. The thin water vapor slid into the air, leaving a gorgeous rainbow in the air.

While squirting water, the ford also reached into the rainbow, with a meaningful smile on his face, smiling sincerely.

The envoy of Xixia was furious: "I knew that this fire was done by Huanqing Road, why wasn't it your Huanqing Road? Isn't this an arson? It's just this thing. We caught three arson people, and they carried this kind of can - liars. Huanqing Road was full of liars. If you dare to do something but don't be a good man."

On the city wall, Zhao Xing heard the roar of the Western Xia envoy and looked indifferent.

The Lord of Guide Fort shook his head and said, "Does the Xixia people have faith in their faith? The Xixia people who have no faith in their faith actually ask others to keep their faith. What's strange?!"

Zhao Xing shook his head with a smile and joked: "They dare to act and take responsibility - they dare to show off when they steal others. We dare not say it because there are too many Confucian scholars here, and these corrupt scholars may not feel sorry for their compatriots, but if the enemy is damaged, they will immediately jump out and accuse us of being unkind and righteous... so we just do it and don't say it."

Most of the military officers were military officers on the fort walls. As a civil servant, the military officers liked to listen to this, but they did not dare to express their opinions, because in addition to Zhao Xing, there was also a civil servant: the envoy of Liao and the doctor of Fangsi Sun Cong.

The officers chuckled, and Sun Cong frowned and said, "Mr. Zhao, look, everyone who came with me has left, but I am still here. You said you want to hand over the grenade and the new tincture oil to me, and you also said you want to cover it up for me, but I haven't seen a little bit of the new weapon now. It's almost the Chinese New Year, so Lord Zhao should not shirke it."

Zhao Xing frowned and said, "I have been ruling out--you can see it all. But you don't think about why I ruling out.

The new gunpowder formula can be handed over to you, but you can't take my craftsmen away. You said, why did you take these people to Beijing? The Huanqing Road originally produced tinea oil and saltpeter, and it can save a lot of travel expenses when processing on site. But when you go to Beijing, you have to transport the materials from thousands of miles away and transport them back thousands of miles away. Not to mention the cost, what about the time? I can't afford to delay the delay, and the people of Huanqing can't afford to delay the delay.

The enemy has come and hit the door. I don’t have enough gunpowder. What should I do? I ask you for a report. When you take two or three months to transport it to Huanqing, the people of Xixia have already brought the robbed things home for the New Year. - man, this is not the case for war."

Sun Cong jumped and said, "Mr. Zhao, you always have to give an explanation to the court."

"Of course...or, if you go with the recipe, I will give you at most three or five craftsmen to guide the military weapon supervisor in the capital." Zhao Xing spread his hands helplessly and continued: "No matter how many, there are no more, I am facing war on Huanqing Road. Jingyuan Road, near Fuyan Road, often ask me for weapons. You have seen it. I am not enough. I have to deal with the evil wolves on both sides. If the court takes away my people at this time... I simply ask the court to order us to surrender to the people of Xixia. There is no need to fight this battle, so as not to slaughter us every year."

Zhao Xing finally became a scoundrel. Sun Cong was so angry that he shivered, but he had no choice but to Zhao Xing.

In the history of the Song Dynasty, gunpowder appeared in the army for the first time and was also a group of soldiers. In 1002, Shi Pu, a group of soldiers in Jizhou, also made rockets, fireballs and other firearms, and performed. Since then, gunpowder has become the standard equipment of the Song army. The Song army used gunpowder to spray fireworks and mists, creating a magical and confusing effect, to perform fireworks acrobatics in various military circuses and puppet shows - in order to win the emperor's favor.

From this record, we can see that the seemingly large army of the Song Dynasty was not used for fighting at all. They were just a group of "armed actors" who performed entertainment programs to create a prosperous atmosphere. Gunpowder was their most important prop, similar to the gongs and drums during the performance and the costumes on the actors.

After gunpowder was introduced into the army, the Song Dynasty court did not formulate strict restrictions. According to normal methods, it took two hundred years of history to be truly valued and developed a rifle gun. During this period, folk artists could also allocate gunpowder for performances by themselves, and the court did not prohibit it.

It is precisely because of this tradition that Zhao Xing made his own gunpowder and, like buying cabbage, he did not use military weapon supervision to use his own financial reserves and equipment for each army. How could the military weapon supervision restrict the army from purchasing cabbage?

But after this year's battle, the power of gunpowder is becoming more and more shocking. Sun Cong's main task this time was to transfer craftsmen with new gunpowder on Huanqing Road to the capital... Unfortunately, this year, Fan Chuncui of Jingzhao Prefecture set a bad example. He trusted the envoy with confidence, so that Zhao Xing could seize the Huanqing gunpowder craftsman with great confidence, but he did not transfer it to the court.

Sun Cong first persuaded Zhao Xing on the grounds of confidentiality, but now Zhao Xing, who is different from the past, does not take his tricks, so he blamed Sun Cong for the transportation time limit. Seeing that the Chinese New Year was coming, Zhao Xing's delay made Sun Cong want to die. He begged with a crying voice: "Li Ren, Lord Zhao, why don't you let me see the gunpowder weapon workshops first, those bombs and fire bombs. I have been running in Huanqing for several months, but I haven't seen a live ammunition. Where is your workshop? You always say that you have a confidentiality work, but no one on Huanqing Road knows that you have a firearm workshop. Where is it? In the court, you always have to give an explanation, right?"

Zhao Xing laughed: "Didn't I promise to give you a live demonstration? Let's do it tonight. Liang Yibu built a revelation port in Wuyan Gorge and cut the trest village. I don't like these two names. We will burn these two villages tonight."

The lord of Guide Fortress was laughed: "Sir, do you still need to burn these two villages? The fire in the grassland was together, and Liang Yibi retreated for 300 miles. The defenders in the village could not stand the smoke and fire. The water source was cut off and they had already retreated, but we had no spare energy to take it."

Zhao Xing reached out and pointed to the wall of the fort: "My student brought me a new thing today. It is said that it was designed by Mr. Mengxi. It can get water about ten meters underground. With water sources on the grassland, everything will be found. We will occupy the entrance to the night of the night and spend ten days building a stone fort, and then use artillery fire to close the Wuyan Gorge. In the future, it will be our base for attacking Xixia... It's not too late, let's do it."

There is no suspense in this battle. Three thousand civilians carried firewood and approached the Jiangyikou Castle under the cover of crossbowmen. They threw firewood near the castle, and then the arson soldiers stepped forward to ignite the firewood... Zhao Xing used the method of smoked horse meat to smoke and roast the remaining people in the Jiangyikou. After the fire was extinguished, he mobilized 30,000 civilians to quickly build a city and transport reserve materials to the castle...

When all this is done, Liang Yibi just got the news.

From the Guanyikou to Liang Yibu's military camp, hundreds of miles of grassland left a misty mist, and no living creature could be seen. From time to time, there was a rekindled fire. The Western Xia scout finally bypassed the fire and rushed to Liang Yibu's military camp. Liang Yibu got the news and led three thousand elite troops to the Guanyikou, facing him a majestic stone pass.

An Xixia officer observed for a long time and said excitedly: "Sir, they haven't had time to build roads yet - there is no road near the entrance to the entrance, which means they are just an isolated army. We can harass people in the castle to trap the castle and be isolated and helpless."

Liang Yibi was stunned for a long time and suddenly laughed wildly: "It's useless! The Song army now has bombs, and we come forward alone. He fights to replace us with one person, but we can't afford it. The Song Dynasty has a population of 10 million, so how many of us have?

Besides, this year, Zhao Gouguan plundered tens of thousands of war horses, and he already had cavalry. The reward was moved to Luochuan, and his cavalry was not afraid of replenishment. Behind us are three hundred miles of ashes, and we can't fight with him."

Another officer suggested: "I wrote to the Song Dynasty court. The Song Dynasty court talked about benevolence and righteousness. As long as we talk about it more miserable, the court will replace Zhao Gou Official. Zhao Gou Official is not in Huanqing, so it will be convenient for us to grab it in the future."
Chapter completed!