People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 299 Arms Race with the Liao Kingdom

In the fifth year of Qingli, with Li Yuanhao's humiliating defeat, Liao's temptation came to an end.

Yelu Zong was really shocked by the power of Song people's muskets, and finally did not dare to act rashly.

In fact, muskets were not superior to cold weapons in the early days. Early smoothbore matchlocks had shortcomings such as slow firing rate, short range, easy chamber explosion, and poor accuracy.

But Zhao Jun knew the shortcomings of early smoothbore matchlock guns, so he didn't go for this thing from the beginning, but went straight for the best musket in the black powder era, the rifled flintlock gun.

With the fixed mini bullets and the stable rifling of the bullet, this design has reached the pinnacle of the musket era. Before the invention of the mercury flash cap, turning the musket into a rifle, the rifled flintlock represented what could be achieved at present. the highest level.

During the Napoleonic era, fusiliers did not suppress heavy cavalry. Especially in France, infantry groups had basically popularized flintlocks and artillery. However, there were still a large number of heavy cavalry in Napoleon's army.

However, that is because during the Napoleonic era, their cavalry underwent special training. They not only had explosive training to prevent the horses from being frightened by loud sounds, but also fire training to prevent the horses from panicking when they saw the flames from the muskets.

Cavalrymen who really don't have time or are not well-trained have a solution, and that is to blindfold the horses.

Such a formation of heavy cavalry phalanx can still pose a threat to the musketeers phalanx that has not fully formed fire suppression when charging.

In addition, the firearms of the Napoleonic period were not rifled flintlocks using Minie bullets, but smoothbore flintlocks. The Minie bullet was not invented by the British until the third year after Napoleon's death.

Therefore, based on the above, it is not impossible for cavalry to fight with muskets. It was not until World War I that the cavalry was completely eliminated with the popularization of armored vehicles and Maxim.

But at least Yelu Zongzhen definitely had no way to deal with the Song Dynasty muskets.

He did not provide fire and explosion-proof training to the cavalry in order to prevent the horses from being frightened. There is also no group of heavy cavalry organized specifically for muskets - the Leather Army under his command is still mainly made of leather armor, which cannot prevent bullets from penetrating.

This resulted in the use of light cavalry to fight the Song Dynasty's musketeers, which was no different from dying.

Li Yuanhao is an example.

His Iron Harriers are actually a heavy cavalry unit, but they are not full-body armor like the Napoleonic era. Instead, they only wear armor on their upper bodies, and the horses have no armor.

As a result, they encountered the Song Army's thousand-man musket squad. The three-thousand-strong Iron Harrier Army and about ten thousand ordinary light cavalry were beaten to a pulp. The shells and the flames ejected from the muskets prevented the cavalry from approaching, and the horses He was frightened and ran around.

Therefore, after seeing Li Yuanhao's disastrous defeat, Yelu Zong really knew that, at least until he found a way to defend against the Song Dynasty's muskets, or produced a batch of muskets himself, it was not a good choice to go south to attack the Song Dynasty now.

However, although Li Yuanhao suffered heavy losses, it was not too bad. Because in order for him to send troops, the Liao Kingdom still gave him a lot of things, which could be considered to make up for the loss of sending troops and compensation.

Compared with the hugeness of Liao and Song Dynasties, the size of Xixia is still too small. The Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty would have enough for Xixia if something came out from between their fingers, but it wouldn't hurt their muscles and bones because of this.

But this was a huge political and military blow to Xixia.

The Dangxiang tribe itself has been accustomed to being a vassal state of the Liao and Song Dynasties since the time of Li Jiqian, and was defeated several times by the Song Dynasty. Their spirit and spirit were already inferior to those of the Song Dynasty, and the noble leaders were unwilling to fight with the Song Dynasty again. .

The main war faction Zhang Yuan was killed again as a gift to calm the anger of the Song Dynasty. Now there are no main war faction members in the country. It will be difficult for Li Yuanhao to take the initiative to provoke an attack on the Song Dynasty.

of course.

This is all Li Yuanhao's business and has nothing to do with the Song Dynasty.

Just after the New Year in the fifth year of Qingli, Bianliang became lively.

There was ice in Kaifeng Prefecture in the twelfth lunar month last year, so the government hired people to clear the snow and break the ice.

The Bianhe River has been re-opened. Spring has just begun and there are already many merchant ships coming and going in just one month.

In recent years, the most troublesome problem in Bianliang is not that the increasing number of migrant workers has caused difficulties in all aspects of city management.

But the carrying capacity of several rivers such as the Bianhe River, Caihe River, Guangji River, and Jinshui River is not enough. Every spring and summer, when commodity trade is most prosperous, river blockages occur frequently.

This obviously seriously hinders economic development.

Therefore, Zhao Jun plans to build a new canal outside the city. It will be dug from Huazhou to Kaifeng. The straight-line distance is about 100 kilometers. It may require more than 100,000 civilians.

On January 14th, in the Constitutional Yuan, the New Year had just passed, and tomorrow was the Lantern Festival. The officials had only been working for a few days and were about to take a break soon. Therefore, all the officials inside and outside the Constitutional Yuan had nothing to do. I am so motivated that I am thinking about where to go during my holiday tomorrow.

Zhao Jun did not lie down. He was now the most powerful person in the Song Dynasty. Zhao Zhen had to look at his face. If he wanted to live peacefully and live a luxurious life, not to mention a colorful life, that could be considered a wish. Just do whatever you want, go wherever you want.

But he is quite a bit of a workaholic, thinking about strengthening the Song Dynasty all the time. It has been almost nine years since he came to the Song Dynasty and he has done a lot, but he still feels unsatisfied and is still struggling at work. on the front line.

Mainly in his eyes, the development of the Song Dynasty was still too slow.

Except for its relatively advanced military and steelmaking, which reached the level of the early industrial revolution, it was terrible in other aspects.

For example, there are no scientific systems, experimental principles, formula establishment, industrial standardization, or assembly lines.

It can be said that the overall progress is very slow. It has been nine years since the steam engine was developed.

But there's nothing we can do about it.

Many things can be done without knowing the principles.

Science requires a system, continuous experimentation and exploration, and it does not mean that knowing the principles can produce results immediately.

But the fire has been planted.

The Song Dynasty now opened modern schools across the country to teach mathematics, physics and chemistry in primary schools and junior high schools. Since last year, mathematics has been included in the imperial examination again, becoming a key course in the Jinshi examination.

As long as we wait patiently for a few more years for other physical and chemical knowledge to take root and take root, and then incorporate physics and chemistry into the imperial examinations in the future, I believe that a complete scientific system belonging to the Song Dynasty will be born within the next ten years.

"Hanlong, what are you looking at?"

At Chenshi in the morning, after the morning dynasty ended, many prime ministers went home to rest for a while. After almost an hour, at the end of Chenshi, the prime ministers came back to work at nine o'clock in the morning.

Yan Shu was relatively energetic and was the first to arrive. The others, Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng, were not feeling well, so it was common for them to arrive late and leave early.

Sheng Du still did not survive last winter and died of illness at the end of the year.

Now Zhao Zhen also sympathizes with these veterans and allows them to rest for a while, and even allows them to skip the morning court, so sometimes Zhao Jun often works alone in the Constitutional Yuan.

"Didn't the court meeting this morning talk about the blockage of the Bianhe River? I was just thinking about how great it would be if a canal was dug from Huazhou directly to Bianliang."

Zhao Jun looked at the map and said.

Yan Shu came over and wondered: "Dig another river to connect Bianliang? The city can't afford such a big project now."

"It's definitely not possible to dig through the city directly. That would require expropriating a lot of land."

Zhao Jun pointed at the map and said: "Just dig from Huazhou to the outside of Kaifeng's East City. In the future, the city will expand, and there will definitely be large-scale development outside Dongcheng. Digging a canal south of Huazhou can divert the flow of the Yellow River and reduce the flow of the Yellow River. Pressure. Secondly, from now on, ships coming from Damingfu will not have to take a long way to Biankou first."

The Yellow River in the Song Dynasty is very different from the Yellow River in later generations. The Yellow River in later generations was directly next to Kaifeng City, but in the Song Dynasty it was to the south of Xinxiang City, a hundred kilometers away from Bianliang. It passes through Huaxian, Puyang, Liaocheng and Shanghe, and finally enters the sea between Wudi County and Zhanhua District of Binzhou.

Even in the Song Dynasty's Sanyi Huihe River, the diversion location was not in Kaifeng, but in Puyang downstream.

This situation lasted until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when the Yellow River flooded and changed its course several times. Finally, after Pan Ji tamed the river in the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River officially began to move south from Guangwu Town in the northwest of Zhengzhou City to Jihui District, flowing through Zhengzhou and Kaifeng. , Lankao and then flow north.

Then Baldhead blew up Huayuankou and changed its course again, forming the Yellow River today.

Therefore, the Yellow River in the Song Dynasty was very far from Kaifeng City in later generations, and there was no canal in between. The only connection between the two sides was the Bianhe River.

This resulted in the fact that if shipping from Damingfu in Hebei Province wants to reach Bianliang, it must first sail into the Yellow River from the Yongji Canal, go upstream for more than 100 kilometers, and then sail into the Banzhu Ferry at Bishui Town, Xingyang City, Henan Province. The Bianhe River goes to Bianliang, which greatly increases the navigation distance.

During the Yuan Dynasty, Guo Shoujing presided over the large-scale canal construction, and then dug the Jeju, Huitong, Tonghui and other canals, and changed the canal into a straight line, connecting the north and the south, which was more than 900 kilometers shorter than the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty.

However, the North-South Canal was built in the Yuan Dynasty to quickly connect Beijing, the political center, and Hangzhou, the economic center. The economic and political centers of the Song Dynasty were both in Kaifeng. Kaifeng already had a canal with Hangzhou, so there was no need to build a direct connection from Beijing like in the Yuan Dynasty. Rivers in Hangzhou. However, with the gradual construction of Hebei's steel industry, it is imperative to strengthen the economic and political ties between Daming Prefecture and Kaifeng Prefecture. Therefore, reopening a shipping line from Huazhou will play an important role in promoting the economic development of the two places.

Yan Shu looked at the signs on the map, thought for a moment and nodded slightly: "Well, if we build a canal, it will indeed be of great benefit to the Song Dynasty. Even if the Liao Kingdom comes in the future, we can respond quickly."

"I will ask Jia Changchao to ask someone from the Ministry of Industry to come up with a plan for me later. Specifically, how many people will be used, where to dig, and detailed preliminary preparations must be made in all aspects."

Zhao Jun put down the brush in his hand. He had just made a few drawings on the map, but this kind of random scribbling would definitely not work. He still had to conduct on-site inspections.

But he doesn't need to go himself. It's enough to leave this kind of thing to the people below and let people from the Ministry of Industry do it.

"it is good."

Yan Shu responded.

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Di walked in with an official document in his hand and a solemn expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Mr. Vintage?"

Zhao Jun looked at him.

Li Di threw the official document in his hand on the desk, shook his head and said: "These merchants are so bold. They actually bypassed our border market in the Song Dynasty and sent the goods directly to Runzhou in the Liao Kingdom."

"Tax avoidance is normal."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Let the navy keep an eye on it and deal with it if found."

Li Di rolled his eyes and said: "The navy has discovered it a long time ago, but they took bribes and turned a blind eye. If it hadn't been for this military restructuring and the navy also rectified it, I'm afraid the court wouldn't have known it was hidden. To what extent."

"Let me see."

Zhao Jun immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, took the official document and began to read it.

The Song Dynasty actually had a navy, or it would be more appropriate to call it a navy, because the so-called navy actually had no fleet, was poorly trained, and was very weak.

Therefore, throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, the navy almost did not appear, except for Ping Haijun who appeared in the Maritime Alliance.

After Zhao Jun developed Japan's Goryeo trade, he began to prepare for the establishment of a naval force. Three navies were built in Donglai, Shandong, Tongzhou, Huainan, and Cangzhou, Hebei, namely Shandong Ping Navy, Huainan Zhen Navy, and Hebei Ding Navy.

Today's navy is not what it used to be. In addition to sailors, the ships are equipped with cannons, like the side cannons in the Caribbean, and even main guns on the front.

This greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the navy. When the Liao Kingdom had almost no naval strength, the three fleets of the Song Dynasty almost dominated the Bohai Sea, the Yellow River, the East China Sea and the Sea of ​​Japan, without any competition.

Zhao Jun's next step is to build another fleet in the South China Sea to ensure the safety of shipping on the Maritime Silk Road.

But now, a large number of businessmen have appeared to evade taxes. Instead of selling things to the Liao Kingdom from the Song Dynasty's border market in Cangzhou, they directly took the goods from Goryeo, Japan and ran to the Liao Kingdom. Corruption also occurred in the maritime fleet. This is a serious problem.

This means that the fleet is corrupted and its combat effectiveness is reduced, which is an important threat to the dominance of the ocean. Zhao Jun naturally does not allow such a thing to happen.

After reading the official document, he said with a serious face: "This problem is still very serious. The supervision force at sea is still not in place. Ships lose contact with the country after they go to sea. Once the whole ship gets together and makes big profits outside, the court will not care about it." Not to them."

"Yes."

Li Di shook his head and said, "I don't know how much tax the court will lose for this."

"It's a pity. We still have to build the scientific system as soon as possible so that we can develop electromagnetism. Then we can just find a way to send telegraphs in the future."

Zhao Jun sighed and said: "I am still too busy now, and from the invention of electricity, to wired telegraphy, and finally to radio waves, I am afraid it will take a long time to study. I can't do it so wholeheartedly."

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. What the Song Dynasty lacks is the entire scientific system. When the basic knowledge of mathematics, physics, and chemistry is popularized in the Song Dynasty and a complete system is formed, these things will be much easier."

Yan Shu expressed relief.

"Ah."

Zhao Jun responded, and then suddenly said: "This official document says that the things Japan sends to Liao are basically sulfur?"

"Yes."

Li Di said: "Since the end of last year, the Liao Kingdom has gone crazy and started to purchase sulfur in large quantities at high prices. The price of sulfur has been rising day by day, and much less sulfur has been shipped back to our country."

Zhao Jun touched his chin and said with a sudden smile: "This is a good thing."

"Is this a good thing?"

Yan Shu said speechlessly: "We can hardly use our own gunpowder."

"Arrange someone to sell them the complete black powder formula at a high price, so that the Liao Kingdom can continue to purchase sulfur."

Zhao Jun smiled.

"what?"

Li Di was shocked and said: "Hanlong, how can this be possible?"

"Row."

Zhao Jun explained: "This is consuming the national power of the Liao State. It's an arms race. They spent all their efforts to develop firearms. Wouldn't the national power decline? Our Song Dynasty is prosperous. One is declining, the other is increasing, and the Liao will be destroyed in the future. There are a few more possibilities.”

Yan Shu heard him say that the gunpowder formula could be sold to the Liao Kingdom in the future, but Li Di didn't know.

He wondered: "If the Liao Kingdom develops the same firearms as us, wouldn't we be unable to fight them again?"

"Who said that?"

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "The arms race is about who develops better weapons first. The question is, do they have qualified steel? Do they have Mini bullets? Do they have granulated gunpowder? Their firearms will always be better than those of the Song Dynasty. Damn, after they finish all this, the Song Dynasty might even have yellow gunpowder, so why should we be afraid of them?"

The industrial era is about crushing the agricultural era through scientific advancement, and even industry has its differences.

Now the Song Dynasty has initially entered the first industrial revolution. Zhao Jun's two epoch-making steel smelting technologies gave them ultra-fast steelmaking efficiency.

In this way, the Song Dynasty will see explosive growth in steel, but the Liao Kingdom is still in the agricultural era. Even with the complete formula of black powder and muskets and cannons, the quality, range, power, and quantity are compared with those of the Song Dynasty. A world of difference.

Therefore, Zhao Jun was never afraid that the Liao Kingdom would also develop firearms, but instead hoped that the Liao Kingdom would do the same.

Because only Song and Liao entered the arms race period, a large amount of the Liao's national power would be consumed in military affairs, which would be of no use to the people's livelihood.

As long as the technology of the Song Dynasty keeps stepping on the head of the Liao Kingdom, the comprehensive development of people's livelihood, economy, military, etc. will always stabilize the Liao Kingdom, and it is impossible for the Liao Kingdom to be stronger than the Song Dynasty militarily.

To a certain extent, Zhao Jun was forcing the Liao Kingdom to focus on military affairs.

They can't let go. If they don't let go, the Song Dynasty's military will only continue to be strong. The Liao Kingdom will still maintain its original cold weapons. Sooner or later, it will be blown up by the Song Dynasty's artillery, grenades, and muskets.

Therefore, this can be regarded as a conspiracy, the best way to weaken the Liao Kingdom.

Now that the Liao Kingdom has slowly figured out a nearly complete black powder formula, it is better to take advantage of the present to maximize profits and sell the complete black powder formula to the Liao Kingdom at a high price to squeeze out the last profits from it.

Anyway, complete black powder is not the most powerful. You can also add egg white to granulate black powder.

When the Song Dynasty develops better in the past few years, people will have corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes and other things to raise more chickens and ducks, so they can buy more chicken and duck eggs, stock up on granular black gunpowder, and mass-produce steel artillery, Musket.

Liao still had to finish the ball.

(End of this chapter)