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

Chapter 577 Countless Weaknesses
"I am willing to take the blame." Tan Cong disagreed. He said Zhao Qi was too soft-hearted and was not fit to be an emperor. He had to change Zhao Qi.

I am willing to take the blame for this.

"Someone come." Zhao Qi called for someone, but he couldn't speak. He didn't know what crime to punish Tan Cong for.

Moreover, Tan Cong and his son were familiar with him and had always helped him.

Seeing Tan Cong kneeling on the ground, Zhao Qi softened his heart again and waved his hand, signaling others to go out.

He had no way to deal with Tan Cong. He was so angry that he didn't talk to Tan Cong for three days. To him, this was the biggest punishment.

Tan Cong saw through Zhao Qi. Zhao Qi was soft-hearted towards his enemies and even softer towards his own people. He had countless weaknesses. For a moment, Tan Cong was somewhat disappointed with Zhao Qi.

When Meng Zhijing first arrived here, he had a good relationship with Zhao Qi, but he soon became disappointed with Zhao Qi. Zhao Qi had no idea that his lack of fighting spirit was obviously unacceptable to the people below him.

In late June, the Song army's vanguard fleet arrived in Mumbai, replenished some supplies, and consulted local military commanders.

The local Song army said that Li Boyuan had already reached Oman.

Li Boyuan sent out troops in April, first conquering Keweko, then attacking Qatar, and then attacking Oman along the western coast of Dasong Bay.

The local situation is now equivalent to slavery and the population is not large. The Abbasid Dynasty once ruled Oman, but in recent years, because it was too far away from the dynasty and its control declined, the Omanis became independent.

Now the Song army comes directly to attack Oman first. The Omani people are suffering a lot, I don’t know why.

Because the Song army wanted to build a port here and transport people here.

But Li Boyuan had just arrived in Oman, and the port was not yet completed. He only had some prisoners to build it.

When Zhao Qi's fleet arrived at the east coast of Oman in early July, it was difficult for large ships to go ashore, so people had to get off the ship in the sea and then wade ashore, which was a hassle.

A few days later, Zhao Qi asked Tan Cong, how many people finally landed on the vanguard fleet of more than 100 ships?

Without even thinking, Tan Cong said, "Report to King Han, it's not bad. There are 9,766 people on shore in the end."

Zhao Qi thought, they received nearly 12,000 people at the mouth of the Ganges, and nearly a quarter of them died? Is this considered good?

Tan Cong added that the port has not been built yet, and our army is building the Dasong Port. Once the port is built, it will be easier to go ashore, and not so many people will die.

Of course Zhao Qi didn't believe it, but there was nothing he could do. As the King of Han, he could do nothing about it. This was the policy of the court.

They then waited for several days there, and then returned with a full load of Omanis and other local tribes, including the Abbasids, to the Delhi Sultanate.

Over the next five or six years, the Song army continued to do this, transporting civilians back and forth between the two places, allowing the Delhi Sultans, Bengalis, Persians, etc. to live together with the people here.

This incident was later called the Oil Tragedy. Several hundred years later, someone from the Song Empire wrote a history book commenting that Zhao Yurui brutally relocated people from various countries, causing countless deaths and injuries. It was considered a good thing if only 500 of the 1,000 people on board could reach the shore.

Just because he monopolized the local oil, Zhao Yurui, the greatest emperor of the Song Empire and also the most brutal emperor, was criticized by countless saints in later generations.

But the greater tragedy was yet to come, and Zhao Yurui was destined to become tyrants who would go down in history books.
-
June, Lin'an City.

"Extra, Extra, Extra, Goryeo rebel Li Mingzai's army attacked Tiezhou and killed more than a thousand Song civilians, including hundreds of women and children."

"The Japanese pirates attacked Dinghai County in Qingyuan Prefecture, killing more than 600 Song civilians, and more than 300 elderly, weak, women and children were missing."

"The Abbasid Dynasty, with an army of 800,000 men and 1.7 million horses, divided into three groups, invaded the Song Dynasty—"

In the streets and alleys of Lin'an City, newsboys were running back and forth, selling the "Da Song Daily".

The Song Dynasty's newspaper group was established in the tenth year of Yuanzhen. After nearly ten years of development, it has become quite complete. Express post and navy are responsible for transportation, and most areas of the country can be delivered within seven days.

Even more distant places like Persia could be reached within 50 to 60 days.

At first, Zhao Yu Rui published an issue every seven days, but later found that there was not so much news and it was difficult to edit it, so they changed it to once every two weeks.

The territory of the Song Dynasty is now vast, and many people have never left the capital. What they want to know, they can only read in newspapers.

As soon as the Da Song Daily came out today, people on the street suddenly flocked to it and rushed to buy it.

A newspaper cost ten cents a copy, which was very cheap and could be circulated, but people are now well-off and those who can afford it still buy one.

There are ninety fixed stalls in Lin'an City, and more than one hundred mobile stalls where newsboys sell newspapers everywhere. Despite this, the five thousand copies sold today were sold out in less than an hour.

So all over the streets, in various restaurants and teahouses, you could see people reading newspapers everywhere. In many places, several people would even read one page. In some teahouses, even ordinary people who were illiterate would find someone reading newspapers.

At this time in a teahouse, the storyteller had just taken a newspaper from someone.

The man ran two streets to buy it, then brought it back and handed it to the storyteller, asking him to help read it. There were many illiterate ordinary people in the teahouse, and everyone was very interested in listening to these national affairs.

"The Goryeo people are cruel. On March 6, they attacked our Tiezhou and killed more than a thousand of our civilians, even the old and the women were spared--" the storyteller was furious, and as he continued to narrate, there were constant curses from all around, and from time to time someone shouted to destroy Goryeo.

Someone in the crowd asked, wasn't Goryeo pacified long ago?
Someone immediately said, "They still have rebels everywhere. The Gao bandit Li Mingzai is stubborn and still wants to resist the Celestial Empire's army. He doesn't care about the lives of the people. He is simply a beast--"

Lee Myeong-jae is currently the largest opposition group in Goryeo. He leads a small number of royalists and wants to revive the Goryeo royal family.

The storyteller kept talking and people kept cursing.

In the corner of the teahouse, there were two tables of people sitting, which seemed out of place with the environment here.

At one of the tables sat a middle-aged man and a young man, who were dressed in luxurious clothes and were followed by a group of bodyguards.

The two men at the table were none other than the Song Dynasty Emperor Zhao Yurui and his fourth son Zhao Wei.

Zhao Wei is eighteen years old. He has not left Lin'an or become a fiefdom yet, but all the civil and military officials in the court know that the emperor will definitely make him become a fiefdom in the next few years.

Zhao Wei was supposed to be sent to a fiefdom last year, but his biological mother, Empress Xie, fell seriously ill. He and the second prince Zhao Xie had the same mother, and Zhao Xie did not come back, so he stayed in the capital to accompany his mother. Empress Xie is in better health this year, so it is estimated that she will be called out to a fiefdom soon.

At this time, Zhao Wei was also listening to the storyteller with his head down.

When he heard about Gao Li, he looked incredulous.

Goryeo had been pacified for more than a year, and there were basically no large-scale rebels in the country. Tiezhou was an important garrison of the Song army. How could it be attacked by the Goryeo rebels, resulting in such heavy casualties?

"Father, is the situation in Goryeo really so serious?" Zhao Wei asked in a low voice.

Zhao Yurui looked at him calmly, then asked, "What do you think?"

Zhao Wei thought, how should I know, I am not in Goryeo? My second brother Zhao Yu didn't write to me?

He scratched his head and asked, "Did the soldiers at the front become careless and let the Korean rebels take advantage of the opportunity?"

Zhao Yurui laughed and said, "You are eighteen years old and still haven't become a vassal. Don't you have any idea?"

Zhao Yurui wondered if he had not taught his sons well enough, as they all seemed not very smart. Of the four adult sons, only Zhao Yu had the most ideas, while Zhao Yi was the most like him.

Both Zhao Qi and Zhao Wei don't look very smart.

"Do you think people like reading newspapers very much?" Zhao Yurui asked with a smile.

"seems like it."

"So we have to give them some news that they like to see and want to see."

Zhao Wei was puzzled. Goryeo killed the people of the Song Dynasty and resisted to the end. Is this the news that the people like to see?
"They would find ordinary news boring, but news like this would excite them, and they would shout to crush Goryeo. They would feel that the Song Dynasty is powerful and invincible, and they would feel proud and excited—"

"In the past, most people in the Song Dynasty lived in poverty and worried about food and clothing."

"Nowadays, they may not be very rich, but at least they have enough food and clothing. Many people don't have much to do. You can't let them sit idle. You have to find something for them to do, something to inspire them. If the people are idle, it's not a good thing for our Song Dynasty."

When Zhao Wei heard this, he glared at his father and said, "Isn't this just Shang Yang's five arts, to tire the people and make them stupid—"

He seemed to suddenly understand that what happened in Korea and Japan was not important. What was important was what the newspaper said.
"So, father, the Japanese Crown did not attack Dinghai County?"

"Abbas didn't gather 80 troops to invade Song either?"

"Hey, you finally understand." Zhao Yurui smiled and said, "Without such an excuse or reason, if the Song Dynasty always mobilizes troops, people all over the world and all the officials in the court will say that I am warmongering."

"Don't think that the court is stable now, the country is growing stronger, and the ministers in the court have been living a rich life these years, with enough salary and everyone living a good life. They don't want to make trouble."

"Although he doesn't say it on the surface, he is very dissatisfied with the court's conquests everywhere."

"They are just too idle, rich, and lack ambition."

"But as a royal family, we must never think like them."

"If there are no enemies, we will create them and make the people inside think that there are enemies outside. This way they will feel oppressed and naturally be of one mind with us—"

"Today the Japanese attacked Dinghai, will they attack Lin'an someday?"

"Abbas has a country of 800,000 people. Doesn't that sound scary?"

"Isn't this - equivalent to fraud?" Zhao Wei held it in for a long time and finally said it out.

Zhao Yurui shook his head: "The way to govern a country is to cheat and deceive. In the thousands of years of history of the Central Plains, all the emperors have been like this. Wei'er, you like engineering and often tinker with tools, which is a good thing, but you should read more history books. Reading history can make people wise, at least they will not be deceived-"

Which emperor in history did not use Confucian techniques to fool the people?
As an emperor, how can you deceive the people? You tell the people not to deceive the emperor, and deceiving the emperor is a serious crime, punishable by death. Is this fair? Zhao Wei has a similar temperament to Zhao Qi, and obviously cannot accept his father's words.

"You are already eighteen years old this year. You will go to Central Asia Province next month to serve the King of Zhao."

Zhao Yurui finally decided to make the fourth son Zhao Wei the King of Zhao.

This is the only one that has not gone to overseas colonies and is close to the Song Dynasty.

In the 18th year of Yuanzhen, the fourth son of the emperor, Zhao Wei, was enfeoffed in Central Asia Province as the King of Zhao, and his palace was set up in the former Daqing City.

The Central Asian province was also quite large, and at that time included Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and part of Pakistan. Daqing City was a new city built by the Song army over several years.

The governor at that time was Meng Gong. It faced Mongolia to the west and was connected to Persia.

The characteristics of this area are that it is relatively large in area, has a large population, and used to be a territory of Mongolia, so it has a complex ethnic composition.

Zhao Wei's task is also quite heavy. Not only does he have to learn how to defend against Mongolia, but he also has to immigrate and develop local experience. In terms of economic capabilities, the Central Asian province is obviously not as good as the overseas colonies.
-
The coastline of Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan in July.

Overwhelming numbers of ships appeared on the sea.

Kublai Khan stood at the bow with a calm expression, looking at the continent opposite as if he saw a group of cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

The Song army invaded on a large scale and fought with the shogunate army twice at sea, severely defeating the shogunate navy.

Then the troops were divided into two groups, one group landed in Kyushu, and the other group went around the Miura Peninsula and headed straight for the shogunate headquarters.

Kublai Khan led 5,000 allied troops as the vanguard of the Eastern Army, and had just seen the coastline of Kanagawa Prefecture.

This is the shogunate's headquarters. There were originally a large number of ships in the port outside, but after a battle with the Song army, the shogunate suffered heavy losses. The gap in weapons between the two sides could not be made up at all.

Hojo Tokiyori retreated to the land, the Song army ships slowly approached the shore, and the commander of the Eastern Army, Song Tian, ​​came to Kublai Khan.

"General Song." Kublai Khan immediately bent down and lowered his head to show his respect.

"After landing, inform all places that anyone who resists will be killed."

"promise."

Song Tian patted his shoulder with satisfaction. This matter should of course be done by the Mongols. Afterwards, he would definitely not admit that there was such an order. How could the Song Dynasty, the Celestial Empire, do such a thing?
A moment later, the first ship of the Song army docked, and they found that the shore was gray and black everywhere. Hojo Tokirai had burned the dock before the Song army arrived.

However, most of the foundation stones of the pier cannot be burned down by fire, so it can still be used after a little repair.

The first wave of Kublai Khan's troops disembarked, first the men and then the horses.

Kublai Khan was the first Song army soldier to set foot in Shennai County. It was July and the local weather was still quite hot, but Kublai Khan still wore armor. After getting off the boat, the hot wind made him sweat all over, and he could only keep drinking water.

There was no way. The greatest damage the shogunate army could do to them now was bows and arrows.

The bows and arrows of the Shogunate Army were different from those of the Song Army. Their bows were longer and had a longer range, but their lethality was not as good as the previous bows and arrows of the Song Army.

None of Kublai Khan's 5,000 men had flintlock rifles, and they had to lead the charge, so he could only wear heavy lamellar armor in the scorching heat.

Among his 5,000 men, the majority were Mongols, and the first to disembark were also Mongols.

There were less than a hundred people who had just disembarked.

Suddenly, a cannon sounded in the distance.

Charge! Then a large number of shogunate troops rushed directly towards the Song army.

But the Song army had also been prepared. In order to avoid being discovered by the Song army, the other side hid a little far away. Now they were rushing here from a distance of five or six hundred meters.

"Ready—fire—" A row of cannons on the ship were already ready.

I measured the target distance briefly.

In less than half a minute, boom, the first shot was fired.

(End of this chapter)