Song Dynasty Cannon Fodder Counterattack Record

Chapter 76 The Causes of the Imperial Crisis

Speaking of this, Lu Yijian sighed before continuing: "Nowadays people talk about reform a lot. It seems that the king issued an order to dismiss a few chief executives and replace them with a few people, but he didn't know that freezing three feet was not a day's cold. And there are some things that the ministers can't change. Let's not talk about the distance, just say that the Chanyuan alliance was the heart disease of the first emperor, and he has generously offered favors since then. Which emperor in the past dared to say that he would never add gifts? But the first emperor dared to do it and didn't care How should the country raise money and food when there is something to do. It is the same for ordinary people, and it is even more generous for honorable ministers. The guilty are all pardoned, and the greedy ones pretend not to see it, just to stop people's mouths."

"The next step is the Empress Dowager Zhang Xian (Liu E) behind the curtain to listen to the government. It is now said that the Empress Dowager Zhang Xian has the talent of Lu Wu and has no evil of Lu Wu. If you want to show favors, some people know it's not a good thing but can't move it, and they still want to win over. Otherwise, Fan Xiwen and the others will take the opportunity to make trouble, and the Empress Dowager Zhang Xian has Lu Wuzhi's talent is their best excuse. Even though I am a prime minister, I have many scruples in every action, once I make a big move, I am afraid that the court will be in chaos first."

"It has been nearly 40 years since the first emperor generously lavished favors. Both inside and outside the court have long taken the state's support for granted. The reform will cut off their wealth, will they be willing? If they are moved, they will have a lot of trouble. Now the treasury is empty. The Liao people and the Xia thieves are staring at each other, if something goes wrong, how will we deal with it?"

Lu Gongchuo had never heard his father praise or criticize the emperor, and the emperor was stunned. He asked for a long time, "What does father mean..."

"The safest way today is to stay calm and then take it slowly. The most fearful thing is that the officials don't know the importance, and they will go to war when they are bewitched. Fan Xiwen, Han Zhigui and the others have never stopped writing letters, but what they want to say Even if they are fathers, they can guess it, so even if they are high-ranking and powerful fathers, they don’t worry about it. Only Li Buqi will say what, how to say it as a father, but he has a lot of thoughts, and partial officials are more and more trusting what Li Buqi said. What I worry about for my father is that I don't know what Li Buqi said. Once the official's ambition is aroused, then Da Song will be troubled from now on."

"Oh, is that so? My son understands."

Lu Yijian saw that it was getting late and went back to the house to rest. He had to go to court tomorrow, and the prime minister had to be guarded. The etiquette must not be neglected at all, and it was also a very energy-consuming thing.Lu Gongchuo sent his father back to the house, but sat in the corridor in a daze.

My father said, "Let's not talk about the far ones", and only talked about the near Zhenzong, and Liu Eshien messed up the court.In the distance, Taizu seized the world from the old boss's family, Taizong had "the sound of the ax and the shadow of the candle", and there were two major defeats in the Liao expedition.Think carefully and fear.After a century of grace, the habit is deeply ingrained, who can change it?

Thinking of this, his heart couldn't help but shrouded in a chill.

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It's November, and Li Buqi is still working on his masterpiece, and you can also read articles written by scholars in the capital scolding the prime minister.The Zaizhi were busy discussing the conditions for peace talks with Xixia, and there were many things to do at the end of the year, such as ceremonies to sacrifice to heaven, so they couldn't take care of him for a while.On the contrary, the story of Li Buqi showing the scholars' articles to the emperor has spread, and now the scholars are scolding him for being unlearned and incompetent, dare not debate, and can only be suppressed by the emperor and Zai Zhi others.Therefore, the verbal and written criticism of Li Buqi has risen to a new level.

Li Buqi didn't bother to pay attention to this, and even reduced going out.He didn't make a sound, those scholars couldn't find Li Buqi as an opponent, so they had to continue to fight with Zai Zhi for the sake of face, and the excitement continued.

Li Buqi didn't go out, Cao Yi and other nobles ran to Li Buqi's place all day long.They have already obtained a lot of Japanese iron, and they have found a skilled craftsman who will be the supervisor to make steel wire.This is a high-tech in the era of the Song Dynasty. Originally, Li Buqi estimated that there would be no major progress in a while. Who would have thought that the craftsmen would actually draw a two-meter-long steel wire—from toughness, In terms of elasticity and strength, this thing can really be regarded as a steel wire.

I really admire the craftsmen of this era.Making good use of these craftsmen is definitely like digging a bonanza.

Although this section of steel wire is expensive, as long as the problem of whether there is any is solved, the cost can be reduced by continuing to study.Let those nobles pay the money.

A section of steel pipe was also made.It is to hammer the steel block into a steel plate and then roll it on an iron rod and beat it until the edges of the steel plate are almost fused together. I don’t know how much labor is used.

Any new thing must be expensive when it is first manufactured, and it can only become a rich man's toy.But as long as it turns out that this thing is useful, someone will naturally think about how to manufacture it in large quantities, and the cost will gradually decrease.

Now it seems that the situation is good, just throwing a hang glider that I don't know if it can fly, Li Buqi has obtained the technology and craftsman for making steel wires and steel pipes, and the most important thing is that it didn't cost Li Buqi a penny.

But steel wires and steel pipes alone are not enough. Li Buqi also needs bearings.In order to make the bearing as soon as possible, he drew a sketch, and I believe that the rest of the work will be completed naturally by the helpless nobles.

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After the winter solstice emperor completed the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, it is said that he almost fell ill with cold, and when he got better in the twelfth lunar month, he summoned Li Buqi again.

"Li Buqi, the imperial court has decided to enlist Pang Chunzhi to negotiate peace with Yuan Hao. This is the condition for negotiating peace with Yuan Hao, do you think it is appropriate?"

Li Buqi took the memorial and looked at it, and saw that it was similar to what he had heard. The Song Dynasty would give Xixia silver 5 taels, [-] pieces of silk, and [-] catties of tea every year. Yes, another [-] catties of tea will be given.Thirty thousand catties of tea will be given to Xixia a year, so do people in Xixia still need to buy tea from Da Song?

Yuan Hao could even use these teas to win over other tribes, so what about the tea-horse trade?

It’s fine if the emperor doesn’t ask. Now that the emperor asked Li Buqi, he immediately said loudly: “Your Majesty, this condition is to destroy my Great Song Dynasty. We must not make a contract on this condition!”

Seeing that Li Buqi reacted so strongly, Zhao Zhen hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"

Not only did Li Buqi feel that the Xixia people were given too much tea, but he also felt that the silver silk was too much.But he also knows that the three major defeats in three years have completely knocked out the spirits of the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty. Now almost the court and the central government want to spend money and avoid disasters, so it is impossible to completely overthrow this condition.

Therefore, Li Buqi only focused on the item of tea: "Your Majesty, the boy thought that the tea promised to Yuan Hao was too much. Yuan Hao's request for so much tea shows the importance of tea to them. Fanren have no money to exchange Barter, if you don't have silk, you can wear animal skin and linen, but if you don't have tea, you can't use other things to replace it. You can only exchange it with Da Song with the things designated by Da Song.

If we don’t give Yuan Hao tea, we can exchange the tea for Fanren’s horses; if we give Yuan Hao [-] jin of tea, Yuan Hao can use this tea without capital to buy other tribes on the border of my Song Dynasty to fight against me, at least Don't sell me Da Song horses.Cavalry combat cannot be organized without horses.This gain and loss is the difference between life and death. "

Zhao Zhen took a look at the basic memorial from the case and said: "What you said is also reasonable. It's just that raising horses costs too much, wastes people's money and has little effect, and all the ministers think it's inappropriate. If you stop fighting with Yuan Hao, there will be no It is necessary to raise so many more horses."

War horses are ancient tanks and armored vehicles. When Liao and Xia put so much pressure on Song Dynasty, and Song Dynasty suffered repeated defeats, some people think there are too many war horses?Li Buqi was stunned: "Your Majesty, I don't know what this means."

Zhao Zhen tapped a few memorial books with his fingers: "Look at what these Qing family say."

(End of this chapter)