save the bachelors

Chapter 4351 [The Calm Before the Storm]

Xiang Nan also met with Song Shidao, Shang Xiuxun and others.

Song Shidao strongly supports Xiang Nan's marriage to his sister Song Yuzhi.

On the one hand, Xiang Nan is indeed a rare young talent; on the other hand, he also dotes on his sister Song Yuzhi. Since his sister likes her and even his father supports her, what reason does he have to object?

Moreover, he then saw the crops and inventions that Xiang Nan brought out, and each of them shocked him. Therefore, he supported Xiang Nan to be his brother-in-law even more.

"Shi Dao, what is the current situation in Central Plains?" Song Que asked with concern.

"Now everyone seems to be at peace and calm on the surface, with only Zhai Rang's Wagang Army being relatively active." Song Shidao reported, "But I heard that the Yuwen clan, the Li clan, and the Dugu clan had a private dispute over the Dongming account books."

The Dongming was a merchant ship belonging to the Ryukyu Kingdom. Although the Ryukyu Kingdom was a small overseas country, it was the best at making weapons.

The Li, Dugu, and Yuwen clans all wanted to rebel, so they secretly stockpiled soldiers, food, weapons, and armor. They also had frequent exchanges with the Ryukyu Kingdom and purchased large quantities of weapons and equipment.

The Ryukyu Kingdom therefore had records of their purchase of weapons. Once this was leaked, their conspiracy to seize power and usurp the throne would be exposed, and whoever was exposed first would become the target of public criticism.

Therefore, the Li clan, Yuwen clan, and Dugu clan fought for the account books on the Dongming ship. However, Song Shidao was not very clear about the specific results.

Because he was at Pegasus Ranch at the time, not at the Dongming. And the struggle between the three major clans was also going on in secret, so he just heard some news.

"Kou Zhong, what do you think?" Song Que looked at Xiang Nan and said.

"Uncle, I think this is just the calm before the storm." Xiang Nan waved his hand and said, "The three major clans appear to be at peace on the surface, but in fact they are all accumulating power in private. There is bound to be a fierce battle. We don't have much time left."

Historically, it took Li Yuan only seven years from the rebellion to the unification of the north and the south.

If the Song clan does not seize the time to develop, then the Li clan will mobilize the entire country to attack the Song clan, and the Song clan will have little room to resist.

Moreover, Li Shimin is not Yang Jian. Li Shimin is a wise monarch throughout history, known as the Heavenly Khan. He is a man of great talent and wisdom. It is not easy to compete with him for the world.

Of course, if Xiang Nan took action, even an army of hundreds of thousands would not be a match for him alone.

The magic he practiced, including landslides, meteor showers, volleys of arrows, firestorms, and the ability to turn beans into soldiers, all had very powerful killing power.

It can be said that once it is used, even an army of tens of thousands can be easily defeated. In addition, with his martial arts skills, even an army of 100,000 will be defeated in front of him.

It’s just that Xiang Nan doesn’t want to commit murder.

He couldn't bring himself to kill thousands of people for no reason.

Of course, developing weapons is not one of them, because a kitchen knife can also kill people, but the blacksmith does not have to bear criminal responsibility.

Therefore, once the Li clan truly unified the north and the Yangtze River Basin, and then attacked Lingnan, Xiang Nan still hoped that the Song clan could save themselves, rather than relying on him to lead the charge.

... "You are right. Although we, the Song clan, occupy Lingnan and live in a corner, and have nothing to do with the imperial court and the three major clans, once they decide the winner, no matter who is left, they will deal with us in the end, so we, the Song clan, must not slack off."

Song Que nodded and said, "We must hurry up and strengthen ourselves, otherwise, when they decide the winner, we will be like fish on the chopping board."

"Dad means..." Song Shidao hesitated, "We should also attack."

"Yes, the power of the three major clans is concentrated in the northern region. Once they start fighting, we will send troops north to occupy Jingxiang, Sichuan and Chongqing, and Jiangnan areas, or at least divide the country by the river." Song Que nodded.

The Li clan now occupies Jin, the Dugu clan occupies Chang'an, the Yuwen clan serves Emperor Yang of Sui in Jiangdu, the Wagang army is in Xingyang, Dou Jiande is in Jizhou... all belong to the northern region.

Since ancient times, it has been easier to fight from the north to the south, but more difficult to fight from the south to the north.

Because the North has population advantages, cavalry advantages, and terrain advantages.

It was not until the Song Dynasty that the population of the South became equal to that of the North. Before that, the South had always been less developed than the North.

However, there are no large grasslands in the south, so raising horses is very difficult. In addition, the water network is dense, so residents often travel by boat, which is also known as "southern boats and northern horses."

The North China Plain, Guanzhong Plain, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are all smooth and have almost no obstacles. Therefore, it is easier for the North to attack the South.

Once the densely populated, commercially developed and resource-rich areas such as North China, Guanzhong, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are occupied, the strength of the North will surpass that of the South. At that time, gradually conquering the South will no longer be a problem.

Cao Wei occupied most of the north, so it was strong. Even if Shu Han and Sun Wu formed an alliance, and had a politician and military strategist like Zhuge Liang to plan and give advice, it was still difficult to change the overall situation.

It was because Cao Wei was so powerful that it had a chance to make a comeback even though it suffered such heavy losses in the Battle of Red Cliffs. In comparison, Shu Han and Sun Wu were so weak that they could not hold on after a single defeat.

……

Song Que was not only a martial arts master, but also a military strategist and strategist. He was well-versed in military books and familiar with military affairs. He naturally knew that if he did not expand his territory in time and just held on to a place in Lingnan, it would be a pipe dream to think about living in peace.

You have to know that Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, did not want to unify Lingnan and make him surrender completely. It was because Emperor Wen of Sui fought against the Chen Dynasty and the Western Liang Dynasty, which made the country exhausted and the people suffer.

At that time, Lingnan had been managed by the Song family for hundreds of years and had strong military strength. Therefore, Emperor Wen of Sui estimated that even if he had to fight, he would suffer heavy losses.

By then, the newly conquered country might fall into chaos again. After all, many people in the Southern Chen Dynasty still believed that Yang Jian was not a Han Chinese and were unwilling to be ruled by him, so they were ready to rebel against him at any time.

Therefore, Yang Jian did not dare to resort to war and could only adopt a policy of appeasement towards the Song family. He named him the King of Zhennan and nominally unified the world.

But now the times have changed. After Emperor Yang of Sui ascended the throne, he dug the Grand Canal, connecting the north and the south. This made it more convenient for goods and people to travel, and the people of the north and the south integrated with each other, promoting unification and eliminating contradictions.

If the northern army wants to attack the south, they can use the Grand Canal to dispatch troops and replenish food, which saves both time and effort. Therefore, the next time the great unification comes, the Song clan will definitely not be able to live in complacency.

Therefore, in order to avoid being a fish on the chopping board, we must take the initiative to attack, at least occupy Jingxiang and Jiangnan, so as to achieve the goal of dividing the river and governing it separately.

It would be better to occupy Huaibei and govern along the Yellow River. This way, the Song family can be guaranteed not to be annexed.