The rise of the prince

Chapter 716 Strategy + Wanyan Zongbi's Wrath

Many things began to proceed in an orderly manner. The imperial court sent envoys to go north with Li Xingzhou's letter to Wei Chaoren and the emperor's will.

On the other side, Wei Xingping and a battalion of soldiers under him had already received firearms training in the New Army camp. Everyone was very excited and worked hard to learn it. After all, they were all witnesses to the power of firearms.

The Wangfu muskets have been in stock for a long time, and there has been a surplus of production before, and they are all stored in the arsenal at the back of the Wangfu.

With industrialized production, assembly line operation, and unified standards, Li Xingzhou couldn't help but think of the Venetian Armory, which created a history of standardization of military achievements and streamlined mass production.

However, the technical content of its products is far from being comparable to that of the Wangfu. Now, with the continuous investment of the second-generation steam engines in the past two years, the Wangfu has gradually formed an industrialized, process-oriented, and mass-produced ordnance industrial zone. .

To put it simply, after a few years, the amount of coke that Wangfu bought every month was hundreds of times that of the beginning. Coal merchants from all over the country came to negotiate business with Wangfu. These cokes are the power source of Wangfu, and the demand is increasing.

There are more than 1 front-loading firearms stored in the warehouse of the Wangfu. Zhao Si also developed a new generation of firearms based on a thunderbolt.

The new army is also slowly expanding its recruits, so weapons also need to be replenished, but he is not in a hurry. The new generation of rifles has no technical difficulties, and if there are any, they are nothing but shell casings.

It was planned to let Wei Xingping take [-] Suifa guns, plus [-] cannons, to the north to form the first musket and artillery units in the Guanbei Army.

On the other hand, the recruiting area of ​​the new army began to expand southward, because Li Xingzhou was preparing to form the first naval unit of the new army, and Mingzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou and other places in the south were the starting cities of the Maritime Silk Road. At this time, It is also the starting point of the world's longest maritime trade route in the past five to six hundred years. Many people along the coast rely on fishing for a living. Many local young people have been to sea and are born sailors.

Maybe everyone knows about the Age of Discovery, but they don’t know that before the Age of Discovery, the world’s longest and most prosperous ocean trade routes have always been in China, from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, starting from Quanzhou, Guangzhou and other places , east to Japan, North Korea, west to the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the west coast of Africa for a generation.

It is a pity that after the Ming and Qing maritime bans, the lush Maritime Silk Road began to decline until it died out, and the Ming and Qing also paid a heavy price for this, that is, missing the era of great navigation.

In fact, if you look at the history books of the Song Dynasty and its predecessors, you will be surprised to find that as early as that era, business trips from Hangzhou, Quanzhou, Mingzhou and other places recorded the vast areas, countries and folk customs on the west coast of Africa and north of the Red Sea. This kind of trade and navigation strength is the biggest advantage.

And the soldiers cultivated and nurtured in these places are exactly what the new army needs.

He handed over the recruitment of naval personnel in Hangzhou, Mingzhou, Quanzhou and other places to Shen Lin.

He plans to recruit [-] young people who have gone to sea from the three places to form a new naval force, and the commander will be Di Zhi.

Di Zhi has prestige in the army, and Di Zhi has sailing experience. The Eastern Route Army took the Bohai Sea to surprise Beijing. The commander is Di Zhi. When he recovers from his injury, he will be the commander of the new army's navy.

However, the navy is recruited after the army, and the current enemy mainly comes from land.

For the time being, the Waigai Kingdom has no enemies, and this situation will continue for a long time.

At the same time, in the inland river network, there are only two places where the navy can be used in the short term, and the Yangtze River defense line cannot be used, because Jingguo has not lost half of the country, but the Yellow River waterway must be used.

At this time, the Yellow River has not been silted up in later generations, and the Yellow River has been diverted and flooded many times. It is still an important northern waterway like the Yangtze River. The most important thing is that several important cities and towns in the Xia Kingdom are all on the banks of the Yellow River. The upper reaches of the Yellow River is the Xia Kingdom. territory.

The ancients built cities along the river. Firstly, it was convenient. Civilizations can only be found in places with water sources. Second, they wanted to use the Yellow River as a natural barrier to stop foreign enemies.

But if the new army fleet sails outside the city, they may be horrified to find that the river that protects them is sometimes fatal.

In Li Xingzhou's mind, Xia Kingdom must be peaceful, because the area controlled by Xixia has the strategically important Hexi Corridor. The Hexi Corridor not only has horse farms, but also connects the Mongolian Plateau to the north, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the south, and Yumen Pass to the west. It is the desert, which is the only place to pass through on the land Silk Road.

Starting from the Han Dynasty, the maritime and land Silk Roads continued to develop, forming a stable, large and distant foreign trade route.

But in Jingguo, because of the loss of the Liaodong area and the Hexi Corridor, the land Silk Road is no longer available, and merchants can only take the sea route.

As for the Silk Road on land, he will take it back sooner or later!
Of course, the current focus is on the Kingdom of Jin, the Kingdom of Jin!The Kingdom of Jin is not only a strategic location in Liaodong, but also the Shangjing Graphite Mine!Shi Mo, the core support of Wangfu's industry, if it wasn't for the fact that the national treasury was empty and he needed to recuperate, he wished he could immediately send his troops northward and take gold directly to Beijing.

In the hut, the lights are bright, the cold wind is blowing outside, the sky is dark and oppressive, it must be snowing.

Li Xingzhou leaned comfortably on the pear flower wooden chair, put the well-behaved and obedient Gillian on his lap, and there was a pen and paper in front of him. Gillian was helping him to remember. He was in charge of speaking, and Shiyu moved a chair and listened beside him.

"First and foremost politically."

As he spoke, Gillian wrote it down. Juanxiu's handwriting is beautiful, but in order to write like him, Gillian is trying her best to write square and powerful. She is really a lovely little girl, although Li Xingzhou does not agree with everyone in this era. Girls regard men as their gods and think of themselves as men's possessions, but for Gillian, he is not only not angry, but also loves and cares.

"In terms of diplomacy, send envoys to show goodwill, and when necessary, you can make concessions and compromises in terms of wording, mainly to paralyze the high-level officials of the Jin Kingdom. It is best to wait for more than two years to achieve the desired goal. By then, the recruitment and training of the new army will be completed, and the treasury will be refilled. , you can go north.

In the worst case, if the Kingdom of Jin still sends troops, Wei Chaoren will be ordered to defend to the death. After switching to firearms, there is a high probability that the Guanbei Army will be able to defend.If there is an accident, the new army can also go northward from the Bohai Sea, and go to the Shanhaiguan area to contain and attack the Jin army.

In the form of military trade, the two warring parties of the Xia Kingdom, the northern grassland tribes, were attracted.

In addition, Datong Mansion was massacred by the Jin army, so there must be resentment towards the Jin people.

Datong Mansion was formerly the territory of the Central Plains, one of the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, and there were many Han people and party members. Compared with the Jin Kingdom from Liaodong, the people had a greater sense of belonging to the Central Plains Dynasty.

The Privy Council has reported that there have been some small anti-gold uprisings in Datong Mansion recently, so the Yang family in Taiyuan can send more people to contact these rebels, and the imperial court will send supplies and help them secretly. "

"In terms of domestic policies, we encourage cross-strait commerce and trade with large rivers and many water networks, and encourage maritime trade with East Asia, the Korean Peninsula, Japan Island, countries in West Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the west coast of Africa."

Li Xingzhou was talking non-stop. He had been thinking about it for a long time. Gillian only focused on writing about Jingguo's grand strategy in the next few years, because he spoke quickly.

The poetic language is curious: "East Asia, West Asia, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, what are you talking about? What are they all?"

Gillian also looked back curiously.

"They are all countries and regions thousands of miles away. Many merchants in Jingguo will buy their products in these places." Li Xingzhou explained, "Maybe there will be a chance in the future. Next time Feng Cheng and the others come back, they will bring back many treasures from those places." Yibao, I’ll buy it and give it to you.”

Gillian nodded, for the little girl, no matter what he gave her, it was a good thing. Shiyu didn't say anything, but the corners of her mouth turned up, showing that she was actually very happy.

"All localities need to step up the action of cleaning up bandits to ensure the safety of business travelers. The cotton planting area around the Taihang Mountains should be expanded as much as possible. In the future, cotton clothes will be of great use to the north."

"Finally, it's about the military." Speaking of this, Li Xingzhou paused for a moment. He understood his poetic language very well. He was an old husband and wife, and he had a good understanding. He handed him a teacup. He took a sip to moisten his throat, and then continued.

"Military
The Ling Jie army will not return to Beijing for the time being. After the Guanbei Army's firearms are in place after the year, the Ling Jie army will retreat again.

The expansion of the new army is the most important thing in the next one to two years, and the details are attached in a detailed table.

It is estimated that after two to three years, troops will be used against the Kingdom of Jin. The primary goal is to seize Shangjing, obtain graphite deposits, and jointly target the land of Liaodong, restore the control of the Korean Peninsula and the northern tribes, and laterally clamp down on the grassland forces. "

After writing this, Gillian was a little worried, "My lord, I'm going to fight again."

Li Xingzhou smiled, nodded, then sat up straight and hugged the little girl tightly, "It's okay if you don't fight, if you don't fight, it's not just us, the safety of the entire Jing Kingdom is difficult to guarantee."

Gillian didn't speak, and quietly leaned against his arms.

"The strategy for combating gold, ideally, unite the northern grassland tribes to send troops from the west of Yinshan Mountain. The Guanbei Army and the Yang Family Army attack Datong Mansion westward. The new army army goes out of Shanhaiguan and goes northward to attack Shangjing and surrounding areas. The new army navy crosses the Bohai Sea and lands in Liaodong. , attack the Liaoyang Mansion, attack from three sides, and strive to create a great Jin Kingdom in one fell swoop."

As Li Xingzhou said, he asked Gillian to write it down, and then told them not to spread the word.

In the general direction, there must be control, so the plan at the Zhanglu level must be written down, always refer to, revise, and remind yourself, so as not to cause a situation where the opposite will be reversed and the order will be changed overnight.

The sky in the prairie was like a huge black curtain, the icy wind kept howling, sabers and spears were abnormally cold, as long as you touched them, your palms would hurt.

In the stretch of military tents, fires were lit everywhere. Opposite the large army tents was a long river, and on the other side of the river was another camp, which was more numerous in number. The two sides faced each other across the river, separated by a distance of three or four miles.

But the Jin army here is not afraid at all, because the Tatar tribe seems to have more camps, that is because they have men, women, old and young, and they are all Jurchen warriors who fought in the South and North, all elite soldiers, and Excellent equipment left by the Khitan people.

And on the other side, the good news came. The Qiyan tribe and the Kelie tribe followed the order of Emperor Dajin to send troops. The pioneer of the Qiyan tribe, Jebe, defeated the Tatars one after another in the west and was coming here.

The Tatars will soon be surrounded and killed here.

"My lord, a few days ago the Tatars on the opposite side were scolding us across the river. Why is there no one these days?" the soldiers asked in confusion.

Wanyan Zongbi looked at the other side of the river: "They are afraid, the worse they scold now, the worse their death will be in the future."

"What are they afraid of?"

Wanyan Zongbi pointed to the river in the distance, and then to the sky, "They are afraid of the snow and the freezing of the river, these gutless prairie mice!

Waiting to kill, no one will be spared! "Wanyan Zongbi's eyes were full of anger, but also sad, "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have missed my brother Huang for the last time. "

"My lord." The soldier lowered his head.

Wanyan Zongbi sighed, he, a big man from Liaodong, the bravest general of the Kingdom of Jin, couldn't help feeling a little sentimental, "How many years have you come south from Liaodong with me?"

"Five years." Said the soldier.

"How many years have you not been home?"

"I haven't been back for two years."

Wanyan Zongbi nodded: "After this fight is over, this king told the emperor to let you go back. You followed me and the emperor's brother to fight out of Liaodong. It's time to go back and see your wife and children at home."

The soldier nodded excitedly; "Thank you, my lord, thank you, my lord!"

Wanyan Zongbi laughed, looked at the Tatar camp in the distance, his eyes were full of coldness, he must deal with these traitors before the new year.

"Let the soldiers take a good rest. I think it will snow in two or three days. When the river freezes, it will be time to start the war. Before that, let everyone eat enough, take a good rest, and then fight back with me People!" Wanyan Zongbi said to the soldiers beside him, the soldiers nodded, and turned around to convey the order.

After the soldiers left for a while, another soldier came with a messenger.

"My lord, the messenger from the capital has brought the emperor's order." The soldier said.

"Hahaha, bring it here." He stretched out his hand, Wanyan Zongbi still had a good impression of his nephew Wanyanli, the new emperor of the Great Jin Kingdom.

At least when he came from Liaodong, he was a brave man who was always at the forefront of the army, and he was very appetizing to him, so he was happy when he received the letter.

Results letter, open envelope looks.

After watching for a while, Wanyan Zongbi gradually frowned, and he questioned the messenger, "It was indeed written by the emperor."

The messenger was obedient, and nodded quickly: "Report to the prince, it is absolutely true, it was written by the emperor."

Wanyan Zongbi clenched his fists gradually, squeezed the letter into a ball, suddenly became furious, and then said loudly: "Hasn't he a brain?"

The messenger knelt on the ground in fright.

"The soldiers have been fighting for five or six years, from Liaodong to Shangjing, Zhongjing! He hasn't been home for several years. He thinks everyone is a pig, a beast, and they don't have emotions!" Wanyan Zongbi was furious.

"Go back and tell him that the king has promised all the soldiers from Liaodong that after this battle, they can go home until the spring of next year. He wants to fight south and let him do it himself!"

"My lord!" The soldiers were anxious, and quickly pulled back their tempered boss, and said in a low voice: "My lord, it's the emperor, this is the emperor's letter"

Wanyan Zongbi also slowly recovered from his anger, that's right, then it is not the nephew who listened to him back then, but the emperor.
He sighed, smoothed the letter in his hand, and said to the trembling messenger: "Go back, after this battle is over, I will go and explain to the emperor myself."

(End of this chapter)