In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 479: Marching North, Crazy Expansion of Territory

Northern Tai Province is a large area, but there are few towns. The Song army cannot herd men in the wild like the Mongols, so they need to build cities to garrison troops and strengthen defenses.

Zhao and Rui did not build much, so they rebuilt Zhenzhou and Zhaozhou, forming a triangle with Harahe Forest, which was enough to consolidate Mobei's defense.

After the two states are built, Zhao Yurui plans to build a new city in the northern part of Lake Baikal, allowing the Song army to enter Eastern Siberia and completely occupy the largest freshwater lake in Eurasia.

Zhao Yurui will madly march northward to expand the Song Dynasty's territory while he is alive.

Taibei Province was vast and sparsely populated. There was no system or envoys. Instead, a governor's office was set up, and Harahe Forest was set up. Five thousand Han households were moved into the city, and 30,000 troops were stationed, totaling 50,000 to 60,000 people. Harahe Forest was changed to Taibei City. Set up a prefect.

Meng Gong, the former governor of Ningshan and Shaanxi, was changed to the governor of Taining.

That is to say, Shaanxi is no longer under the control of Meng Gong. Meng Gong is now in charge of Ningxia and Northern Tai provinces.

Meng Gong will be stationed in Taibei City to prevent the Mongolian army from returning eastward and to prepare for the future western expedition.

Taibei City is also the base camp for the Song Army's future western expedition.

At the same time, Liu Zheng boarded the ship to Hanzhou a few days later.

Nowadays, it is considered a vast area and sparsely populated. The southern part is the original fiefdom of the three kings of Northeast Mongolia. There are more herdsmen. The north is full of forests. There are only forests but no people. Often there is not a single human being in hundreds of miles. Some people may be locals. Savages and natives.

The Song Dynasty now has millions of troops, but there are no major wars. Zhao Yurui must take advantage of it and fight some small-scale wars, firstly to test and secondly to train troops.

Meng Gong was in northern Taipei and was the governor of Ningxia and northern Taipei. The Song army had 4.5 million troops in the two provinces and built a large horse ranch in northern Taipei. According to the previous Mongolian method, northern Taipei was set as the site for future western expeditions. One of the bases, in five years' time, the annual output of high-quality war horses here will definitely exceed 100,000.

At this time, the territory of the Great Song Dynasty was several times larger than that of the Northern Song Dynasty. There were still many newly occupied places that needed to be explored and consolidated. Some sporadic resistance in various parts of the country would be quickly overcome.

However, the local area is rich in various resources, and Lake Baikal is located between Daxing Province and Northern Thailand Province.

Zhao and Rui established two new provinces, but the officials and personnel did not increase much. From the map, a lot of area was added to the Song Dynasty.

The journey to the Persian Gulf is 20,000 miles long. Zhao and Rui want to mobilize an army of 60,000. The army personnel alone plus the armor and equipment they carry will require four to five hundred large ships.

Nine years after Yuanzhen, Wo Kuotai did not immediately raise his troops to return eastward because of Subutai's suggestion. Zhao and Rui also hurriedly recuperated, and Song Meng stopped his troops while he was in the north.

Zhao and Rui reassigned the generals.

In the future, the imperial court will try to immigrate one after another to increase the local population, and then a city can be established.

The second is to train troops, collect food, and build equipment to provide logistical support for the imperial court's future expedition to the west.

Zhao Yurui did not plan to build a large city in this era. It was too difficult and there were not many future generations. Why did he do this?

After the Song army raided the area, they placed the sentry cavalry near Buryat or even Yabute.

Daxing Province has fewer people than Northern Taipei Province and has no important cities. It is completely like a barren land.

On the other side, the imperial court established Daxing Province to the north of Shanxi and to the left of Liaodong Province.

This Daxing Province basically includes later Buryat, most of Amur Prefecture and part of Yabut.

There are no enemies here. The Principality of Rus is still under the rule of Batu, and the Cossack cavalry has not appeared. Therefore, Zhao Yurui mainly sent people to clear the local terrain first, occupy favorable terrain, and build a bastion before the Cossack cavalry. Consolidate your rule.

When Wang Jian arrived in Hebei, he served as governor-general of the military affairs of Hebei and Shandong. The governor-general's palace was located in Yanjing. He had many tasks. One was to prepare for the imperial court's future relocation of the capital and to repair the city defense of Yanjing.

Wang Shixian was stationed near the Daxing'an Mountains and established two armies of the Daxing Army with a total of 6,000 cavalry. They were dedicated to exploring the north of Daxing, drawing maps, and preparing for the future construction of fortresses and deep control of the Yakut area.

They will first go to Borneo Province, and then after recuperating in Borneo Province for a period of time, they will cross the Strait of Malacca and drive directly to the Persian Gulf to open a second front.

Meng Gong had several main tasks in northern Thailand. The first was to train cavalry, the second was to build grain and grass warehouses, and the third was to send troops to raid all directions and capture all the ethnic groups within a thousand miles of northern Thailand to prepare for farming later. The fourth is to plant rye and raise cattle and sheep. The fifth is to explore further around and draw maps. The sentinels will cross Lake Baikal, go deep to the north and west of the Altai Mountains, and enter the Principality of Rus and other forces.

It is difficult for most officials to understand that the imperial court has added two new provinces, but there are not many prefectures and officials. They are all in bitter cold and remote places. It is better to set up prefectures instead of provinces.

In Zhao Yurui's plan, after Zhaozhou and Zhenzhou are built, there will be four important towns in northern Taipei: Qianzhou, Zhaozhou, Zhenzhou, and Taibei City, each with 30,000, 20,000, and 20,000 residents. , 30,000, a total of 100,000 troops, and moved another 5,000 Han households to each city, and then moved some people from other ethnic groups. Finally, after five years, it is guaranteed that there will be 100,000 troops and 200,000 civilians in the four states of Northern Tai Province. .

But these two places are really too big to set up a government. If they set up a province, it is also to prepare for future immigration.

If Mongolia does not march eastward, Zhao and Rui will march westward in five years at the latest. By then, a steady stream of materials, food, grass, men and horses will gather in these four places.

In April of the ninth year of Yuanzhen, Meng Gong, Lu Wende, Yu Jie, Wang Jian, Liu Zheng and other generals who had been away for many years came to the capital to meet His Majesty the Emperor.

Lu Wende returned to Liaodong and focused on the area near Goryeo. In recent years, Zhao Yurui built several cities in Liaodong. After the Mongolian army left, the main force of the Song army could gradually move eastward to prepare for the future attack on Goryeo.

Generally speaking, due to the special geographical location of Daxing Province, the imperial court did not have a city government or corresponding civil officials for the time being. Daxing Province was temporarily under the management of the Governor of Liaodong.

A post station was built every fifty miles, and a bastion was built every one hundred miles.

Zhao and Rui entertained them well, and each received a reward.

Daxing Province is not small in area. It is adjacent to Northern Tai Province in the west, starting from the east bank of the Kherulun River, to the easternmost part of the Daxingan Mountains in the east, in line with the newly built Harbin City in the south, and above Muyiski in the north.

However, there are too many places in the Song Dynasty that need to be immigrated. Zhao Yurui may not be able to do this. It may be his son and grandchildren's turn to do it in the future.

At the same time, the imperial court will set up an important pasture near Guanshan, and in five years it will reach an annual output of 100,000 war horses.

Even in later generations, it was hundreds or even thousands of miles away to see a small town.

Of course, now that Mongolia has not been destroyed, Zhao and Rui will not easily start another war with Goryeo. Lu Wende is training troops in Liaodong, collecting grain, strengthening local control, and continuing to build cities.

At that time, Jochi also attacked this area on Temujin's order, conquered the local indigenous people, and incorporated it into Mongolia. Therefore, after the Mongolian army left, there were fewer people nearby.

The Song Dynasty court was also in full operation, recruiting 30,000 naval troops from various places, 30,000 infantry and cavalry, and an army of about 60,000, almost all of whom were equipped with flintlocks and artillery.

Yu Jie went to the top to train the navy and build mountain troops at the same time. Zhao Yurui planned to find an opportunity to start from the waterway and send troops from Hainan Island to let Liu Zheng go to attack Annan.

So the Song Army planned to send people to travel around and draw the local map. This may take several years. Then, while running, they would look for suitable places to occupy water sources, mountains and forests, and build bastions and inns to strengthen the future. 's rule.

In addition, if a small city is built below the Daxingan Mountains, about 5,000 households will be relocated and 5,000 troops will be stationed.

The entire trip, including supplies and rest in between, takes more than four months.

In the early stage, the whole army gathered in the main camp, and all the selected fusiliers were elite fusiliers, veterans of more than three years. There was no rush in gathering at this stage, just take your time.

At the same time, the imperial court will continuously transport various supplies to Borneo. There may be more than a thousand ships transporting supplies, and the imperial court will continue to do so for about a year.

After the army was assembled, it first went to Hanzhou, then to Borneo Province, and then divided into four groups and passed through the Strait of Malacca one after another. Before gathering the army, Zhao Yurui had already sent people to the Palk Strait where Sri Lanka was located in later generations. The Song army had a capital of 300 people and had established a stronghold in Sri Lanka.

After coming out of the Strait of Malacca, this is a good replenishment point, which can replenish enough fresh water resources and even food.

Liu Zheng found that His Majesty the Emperor was very well prepared. It seemed that he was just launching a battle with a scale of 60,000 people, but the preparations took two or three years.

The first step is to occupy Sri Lanka and build a distant sea supply base for the Song Army.

The second step is to gather in batches in the Persian Gulf.

The third step starts from southern Persia and attacks northward, opening up the second front of the Song Army's western expedition from the sea.

Zhao Yurui said that this plan is not urgent, and all preparations must be made in the early stage. More grain and grass must be gathered on the Persian Gulf side to prepare a place for the army to settle down, and a stronghold must be built in Sri Lanka to provide protection for the army.

After one or two years of preliminary preparation, large armies set off from Borneo one after another.

The real battle will probably start in two to three years.

Liu Zheng admired the emperor for not being anxious for quick success or quick success in anything he did.

At that time, the Northern Expedition also encroached step by step, attacking and occupying city after city, forcing the Mongolian army to retreat on its own initiative.

The same goes for preparing for the Western Expedition now. There is no rush to start a war, and preparations should be made in the early stage.

Just when Liu Zheng was leaving the capital by boat, he saw three ships approaching the capital from a distance. The first two of them could be seen as warships of the Song Dynasty Navy, and the middle two were broken and old, and the ships were still swaying. Liu Zheng looked at the boat and was afraid that the boat would sink at any time.

"Who has the imperial court been at war with at sea recently?" Liu Zheng stood on the bow of the ship and asked around.

He now commands part of the navy and has many naval generals under his command.

The navy generals looked confused and shook their heads: "There is no fighting on the nearby sea."

Everyone felt strange. When the opposite ship approached, a general shouted: "That seems to be a ship of the Hanzhou Navy."

Hanzhou is Feilubin, and the ships from Feilubin come to Lin'an, which is quite a distance. There are many ocean-going warships there, and you can tell by their shapes.

Liu Zheng is now a naval general. At that time, he understood the relevant laws of the imperial court. Normally, the navy would guard its own district. Unless there were special circumstances, the Hanzhou navy would not come.

In the later period, Liu Zheng will bring an army of 60,000 to Hanzhou to assemble, and only civilian ships and naval divisions near Zhejiang and Fujian will be responsible for transportation, and Hanzhou naval vessels will not be used.

The Hanzhou navy does not do business, and those who do business have merchant ships dedicated to the imperial court, so they must have come back because of something.

He couldn't help but think of something: "Quick, telescope."

A soldier behind him immediately handed over the binoculars.

The Song army has been fully equipped with telescopes, but Liu Zheng still rarely uses them. He only remembered it now.

The same goes for everyone. Those who are of a high level pick up binoculars and look at it.

"Is that the Quanzhou behind, the America?" A general saw the ship behind clearly.

"America? Is that guy surnamed Pu back?" A general actually knew about this, with a look of disbelief on his face.

Liu Zheng had been leading troops outside, so of course he had never heard of this.

He put down the telescope and asked the generals what was going on?

"More than two years ago, a Quanzhou official found the imperial city on his own and found His Majesty -" the naval general said slowly, telling the story about Pu Shougeng.

Pu Shougeng actually went to find Zhao Yurui in the sixth year of Yuanzhen. It was not until the beginning of the seventh year of Yuanzhen that the fleet was officially assembled and set off.

Two years and three months later, he actually came back.

He took three boats with him when he set out. The largest Mulan boat was called the Rubber, which could sail hundreds of people on the sea for a year without supplies. However, the Rubber had sunk and he did not come back this time.

The Quanzhou and the America were also scarred, and it looked like they had experienced a lot of risks.

The general said: "Before Pu set out, the imperial court also tried to select people from the navy to go. Back then, a relative of mine wanted to go, but I dissuaded him."

Later, the imperial court selected people from the Intelligence Department, not the Navy.

Liu Zheng also looked incredulous after hearing this.

Of course he didn't understand why the emperor went tens of thousands of miles away to find rubber seeds, but he knew that the emperor must have his own plan.

Moreover, both the Quanzhou and the America are back, I hope they can complete His Majesty the Emperor's mission.

"Your Majesty attaches great importance to this matter. He has issued an order every year in the past two years to let the navy from all over the country pay attention to the return of several ships such as the Quanzhou." The general said again: "If the person named Pu comes back successfully, he will be awarded a title for meritorious service at the least. , I will definitely post it.”

Some people couldn't help but whisper, he can be knighted just by looking for something, what if we go to the Persian Gulf to fight?
Liu Zheng's expression changed slightly, and he said solemnly: "Your Majesty attaches such importance to this, it must be a major event that is beneficial to the imperial court."

"We didn't want to go to the Persian Gulf for half a year, but he went back and forth for more than two years, which shows how hard it is and how difficult it is."

Everyone's expressions changed slightly, and no one said anything.

We all are sailors and make a living on the sea. Of course we know how hard it is on the sea.

The man surnamed Pu has been at sea for more than two years. How can ordinary people endure it?

At the end of September and April in Yuanzhen, Pu Shougeng, who had been wandering for more than two years, finally came back.

When he went there, he took three ships with more than 200 people. When he came back, he only took two ships with 78 people.

Most of them died in more than two years.

Three people from the Imperial Intelligence Department left, Tan Cong, Peng Yun, and Zhang Tietou, and two came back. Zhang Tietou died.

Tan Cong had just turned eighteen when he went there, with a fair and tender appearance. Now when he came back, his skin was dark and his face was weathered, like a middle-aged man. When his father Tan Hai saw him, he almost couldn't recognize him.

In early May, Zhao and Rui invited Pu Shougeng, Tan Cong and Peng Yun to the Chui Gong Hall and gave them heavy rewards.

(End of this chapter)