This requirement was not high, and Zhao Ji immediately issued an edict in the name of hurting the peasants because the price of grain was too cheap, and the imperial court used fifteen million yuan to buy grain. Before this, from the year before last year to last year and then to the summer harvest, the imperial court has prepared a large amount of grain, but the future is not only for the soldiers to eat, a big war, Shaanxi and Hehuang will also hurt the vitality to some extent, the agriculture of the Western Xia is even more comprehensive destruction, the Western Xia will be occupied after the fight, if you want to occupy it, you have to appease, otherwise the remnants of the Western Xia will come like Li Jiqian to an enemy to advance and retreat, the enemy retreats and I advance, the Western Xia is to occupy it, and it will change hands after a few years. The people live on food, and food is the most important.

At this point, the food has been prepared. However, the Tangut people were not alerted, and most of them were placed in the Gyeonggi area and were not transported to the northwest for the time being.

Zheng Lang said again: "Your Majesty, you can send an envoy to warn the Li Yue Dynasty, especially that Li Daocheng, and let the envoy directly tell him, if he is not honest, I don't mind the side of the Qing Jun in Jiaozhi, and then let Su Mian go out of Guizhou and serve as the pacification envoy of Guangnan West Road." ”

Li Rizun died before the great drought in Xining, and his son Li Qiande succeeded him, Li Qiande was only a few years old at this time, and the government was controlled by the powerful minister Li Daocheng, but this Li Daocheng was very dishonest, and colluded with the Langshan tribes to cause serious turmoil in the regions south of Sanguan, and then the great victory of Hehuang was spread, and Jiaozhi was afraid of this, and sent an envoy to congratulate the Song Dynasty on the great victory.

Now Li Qiande is still not big, he is only a 14-year-old boy, and the government of Jiaozhi is still in the hands of Li Daocheng. However, due to the Song Dynasty's persecution in the Khitan and Western Xia, the center of gravity was still in the west and north, not only in the south, but also in many areas in the southwest, and the Song Dynasty could only temporarily put it aside. As long as there is no big mess, the court has been turning a blind eye, and Zheng Lang is the prime minister, but he is helpless to be trapped in this form. In recent years, not only has Jiaozhi not been very stable, but there has also been turmoil in the southwest.

However, there were many reasons for the turmoil in the southwest, and there were also mistakes in the ethnic policy of the Song Dynasty. The fault of the officials, of course, is the fault of the unruly and unruly of the barbarian tribes, if you want to be safe in the southwest, you must first solve this kind of tangled, but you must spend a lot of money to build roads, the transportation is inconvenient, and the court officials and soldiers can not easily reach the tribes, so they cannot be governed. Then the king became a king to improve the lives of the people, but the southwest mountains and rivers are far away. Even if Zheng Lang has a golden finger, it cannot make the lives of the local people improve quickly.

The southwest doesn't care for the time being, but Jiaozhi must not be allowed to make trouble in the south during the summer season. Over the years, the imperial court has governed the south, and Su Mian has also been active in the south, which is quite prestigious, but Su Mian is also old. Therefore, Zheng Lang said again: "If you wait for the Western Xia matter, Your Majesty can recall Su Mian back to the capital." ”

"Well, this is a capable minister."

Zheng Lang walked out of the palace.

Autumn is deep, and the leaves are falling.

Suddenly, a hammer rode through the street. attracted all the people on both sides of the street to stop and watch.

Because of the abundance of horses, the cavalry of the Song Dynasty increased one after another, including infantry, and they were also taught to ride horses. Instead of letting them fight on horses, at a certain time, use war horses to increase the speed of marching. This is the all-powerful side, but Zheng Lang centralizes the soldiers.

The Song army had the least heavily armored cavalry. But it can't be said that it doesn't work, the impact of the heavy cavalry on the frontal battlefield is still very large, so a heavy cavalry is retained. When reorganizing the regiment and organizing the army, Zheng Lang divided the heavy armored cavalry into hammer cavalry and knife cavalry, all of which chose strong troops, the hammer was an iron hammer, and the knife was a big knife to increase the lethality of the heavy armored cavalry. The usual training of the hammer cavalry is mainly to practice hammer arts, supplemented by others, which is also called specialization, so that they are more proficient, then the combat effectiveness will be stronger.

There are more types of light cavalry, including archery, that is, cavalry archers who specialize in shooting on horses, as well as bearded knife cavalry, not the broadsword of heavy armored cavalry, but the scimitar promoted by Zheng Lang, throwing cavalry, throwing short axes and short spears on horses, as well as lance cavalry, lancers, spear cavalry, spear cavalry, spear cavalry in their hands. The infantry is divided into shield soldiers, spearmen, sword soldiers, axe soldiers, stick soldiers, archers, crossbowmen, and god arm archers who require strict arm strength, as well as hook and sickle men, horse swordsmen, and knife and axe soldiers who specialize in restraining the enemy's cavalry.

There used to be artillery, also known as trebuchets, but now there are stone artillery, as well as several new types of real artillery, and even medical units.

It was impossible for the Song army to restore the combat effectiveness of the Han and Tang dynasties, so Zheng Lang intended to refine the various types of troops, turning them into a strict machine, and improving their combat effectiveness through military discipline and perfect coordination.

In Zheng Lang's eyes, the roles of all branches of the army are equal, such as the medical soldiers who are despised by the people, are they worse than the cavalry? But the people didn't think so, especially the two heavy armored cavalry, which made them admire the most.

Listening to the discussion of the people and the enthusiasm in the eyes of some young girls, Zheng Lang looked at this heavy horse again, crying and laughing, and said to the servant: "Prepare the car and take the old man to the outside of the city." ”

"Whoa." The servant prepared the car and pulled Zheng Lang to the suburbs.

The first is that Zheng Lang is now gradually letting go of government affairs, and he has more free time, and the second is that he deliberately went to the suburbs to see cotton.

Almost all of them focused on a few kinds of grains, and all of them ignored this new type of cotton.

But its role is no less than any kind of miscellaneous grains, and even according to the living habits of Chinese, it will exceed these kinds of miscellaneous grains in the future.

Zheng Lang came to the suburbs, looked at it, and asked again.

The cotton also began to be harvested, because it was only transferred to the Song Dynasty, and although it was carefully cared for, the yield was still not very high, not much different from some high-yielding coarse wool. This is one of the reasons for the contempt of all people.

In fact, its output will be much higher than that of lint cotton in the future, and the proportion of lint will be higher, which is not the most important thing, the most important thing is its cotton fiber, because its fiber is long, and it does not need to be wrapped with silk to weave fine cotton cloth. It is precisely because of this characteristic that the price of cotton cloth will fall sharply in the future, so more and more people can wear new clothes, and even hemp and kudzu will gradually withdraw from the stage of history, moving more arable land space. The significance is unimaginable.

Not only this kind of fine staple cotton, but this year in Lanzhou, Qinzhou, and Weizhou, another 7,000 hectares of cultivated land have been moved to plant long-staple cotton imported from the Western Regions. Seven thousand hectares of cultivated cotton cannot meet the needs of the people in the northwest, but it can meet the needs of the front-line soldiers.

This alone has saved the state a lot of money. The quilt, cotton clothes and fabrics needed by a soldier are not very heavy, but what about hundreds of thousands of soldiers? In order to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, these supplies must be transported from the Central Plains to the northwest step by step.

Although it is tiring to plant cotton at the same time, its economic benefits are higher, and planting cotton on a large scale will bring prosperity to many people in the northwest.

And not only this cotton. These two years of bumper harvest, the Western Xia economy collapsed, and did not dare to offend the border, this year the northwest was very calm, so that the Song Dynasty freed up more wealth, Zheng Lang since the spring, from the treasury allocated 55 million yuan, stockpiled a large number of food materials and weapons, of which 30 million yuan was used for weapons and armor, although Zheng Lang tossed. The treasury was empty again, but at least more than ninety percent of the weapons and materials needed for the expedition to Western Xia were prepared. But like grain, in order not to alarm the Western Xia, most of them were in the capital.

This is war.

Without careful preparation before the war, the battle was fought in a hurry, and it was dangerous.

Autumn went to winter, the Song Dynasty was very calm on the Song side, and the Western Xia side continued to be hard.

It seems that the Song Dynasty did not have any tendency to use troops against the Western Xia. But I don't mind if the Song Dynasty fell into the hole of Western Xia.

After the collapse of the Western Xia Bank, the Song Dynasty immediately sealed the border and strictly forbade any merchant to smuggle Song Dynasty goods into the Western Xia, which made the situation even worse for the Western Xia people.

This situation arises. The key is the bank.

For this reason, the ministers of the two factions quarreled endlessly.

The latter party reproached the royalists, and the royalists wanted to restore the Han rites and now only study one bank. Look what happens.

In fact, the so-called Han rites and Tibetan rites do not matter, what matters is the trend, if the royalists succeed in restoring the Han rites. It is equivalent to overturning Liang's policy, and Liang's is in danger. If you can't even stand up for Han Li, let alone take back power from the Liang family.

In the face of the unreasonable troubles of the Hou Party, the royalists were also unwilling, whose idea was the so-called bank, the idea of Liang Yongneng and the Liang family, and why they wanted to set up a bank, if it were not for the Liang family's disregard for the overall situation, and had to use troops to the Song Dynasty, Suizhou would not be lost, Lanzhou would not be lost, and it was necessary to set up a bank to defraud money from the hands of the people.

Originally, the economy was embarrassed, and the two parties were in dispute, which made the people of Western Xia miserable.

In this case, Li Qing found Feng Gao again and said: "General Li, now that the country has reached the moment of life and death, you are the pillar of the first emperor, and you cannot sit back and watch the fall of Western Xia." ”

The Liang family controlled the military, political and financial power of Western Xia, and the latter party had the upper hand, and Li Qing wanted Li Bingchang to really grasp the power, so he had to rely on the power of the fourth general Feng Gao.

Feng Gao opened his eyes and said weakly: "Li Qing, I'm old, and I just want to live a peaceful old age." ”

Li Qing is so clever, this old guy has something to say, so he stepped forward and gave a deep salute and said: "General Li, even if you want to live a peaceful old age, you have to think about your children and grandchildren, and the country is in danger, under the nest, how can there be eggs?" ”

"Your Majesty is the sky, and the Queen Mother is also the sky, unlike in the past, when there was no hidden falsehood," Feng Gao still shook his head.

"General Li, not for the Queen Mother, but to eradicate Liang Yibury and other treacherous people, without these people to bewitch the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother and His Majesty's mother and son are united, and our country will be saved."

"Li Qing, the other party's strength is very strong." Feng Gao still didn't agree, but his voice gradually relaxed.

Li Qing persuaded for a long time, and then Feng Gao said: "Li Qing, you give the old man two days and let the old man think about it." ”

Feng Gao is not only Feng Gao, but also Lu Yi, Zhao Shanjin and Wei Zhifang, if these three brothers don't agree, Feng Gao won't agree, Li Qing left helplessly, his heart was uneasy, and if he didn't agree, he was afraid that these four brothers would be slaves with four surnames, and they would go to the Liang family to inform.

But how did he know, and then the news was quietly sent to the capital of the Song Dynasty.

Two days later, Feng Gao sent someone to invite Li Qing and said, "Li Qing, the old man has discussed with the third, fourth, and fifth elders. ”

"What do they say?"

"They are also worried that we originally had some military power in our hands, but since the Battle of Huluchuan, almost the entire army of Liang Daxiang has been defeated, but Kaitai has kept the three armies, which has been squeezed out by Liang Yibury."

"Exactly, treacherous and evil are in charge, how can the country be safe?"

Feng Gao secretly cursed in his heart, it is a good thing that the country is uneasy, otherwise we will get the fallen leaves of that year to return to the roots? His face did not show it, and said: "That's the case, seeing the country like this, we are also heartbroken, but because of the exclusion of Liang Daxiang, we don't have much military power in our hands, and we want to support the royal family, and our strength is weak." ”

After Feng Gao finished speaking, he looked at Li Qing.

If you want us to help you, you have to get your hole cards out.

Li Qing understood and said a few names.

The dozen or so men began to discuss how to do things.

However, this time the shrewd Li Qingbei urged.

The front was discussing, and then Feng Gao was asked to sell the news to Liang Yi for burial.

Liang Yi was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly secretly called Feng Gao to the mansion. Feng Gao explained the matter in 1510, and Liang Yibury said: "General Li, thank you four brothers this time. ”

On the surface, it seems that Feng Gao and the others are very shameful, but if Feng Gao and the rest of them make trouble, it is possible to let them gain credit, then the Liang family will be more auspicious. Liang Yibury said again: "General Li, you wait. ”

After speaking, he immediately entered the palace and reported to the Liang family.

After hearing this, Liang's face was clouded, and he said after a long time: "This son of the mourning family is raised for nothing. ”

"Queen Mother, what should I do?"

"You let Li Yan and the four of them lead their troops to kill these thieves."

"Queen Mother, let me go."

"Don't use it, these four people seem to be honest, but they are actually extremely cunning, and every speculation can be successful, they must be allowed to do it themselves, otherwise they will be able to mourn their family in the future."

Letting Feng Gao and the four of them do it themselves is tantamount to announcing to the whole of Western Xia that they betrayed Li Bingchang and took refuge in the Liang family, and since then there has been no room for maneuver with the royalists. And Liang has another idea in his heart, he has repeatedly fought wars with the Song Dynasty over the years, losing more and winning less, which is also the reason why Western Xia lacks a powerful general. These men were quite skilled in military affairs, and they could be used for themselves by tying them to their chariots.

Liang Yibury went down with the letter of appointment and informed Feng Gao, Feng Gao pretended to be embarrassed, and only agreed after a long time.

Selling Li Qing is precisely to exchange the trust of the Liang family and regain military power!

At dawn the next day, winter came, and a layer of hoarfrost had accumulated in some of the city's skulls. Suddenly, countless soldiers poured into Xingqing Mansion City and broke into the homes of some powerful people. Among them were several imperial uncles, as well as Li Qing.

Li Qing was caught off guard, and quickly asked Lu Yi to lead the soldiers to capture the family, Li Qing reacted, what he was most worried about happened, and scolded: "Li Yan, Li Duanming, Li Kaitai, Li Wei, you four shameless four family thieves, you will not die well in the future." ”

Lu Yi snorted his mouth, and his subordinates understood it, and went up to cut off Li Qing's head with a knife. Later, Liang Yibury led Feng Gao and Ren Duo Lingding to imprison Li Bingchang. This incident caused an uproar in Western Xia, and many people secretly scolded Feng Gao.

But Feng Gao has always been a minister of the Song Dynasty, and what he did was for the Song Dynasty to destroy the Western Xia, how could he be regarded as a slave with four surnames?

The October events of Western Xia occurred, and the east wind that Zheng Lang was looking forward to also arrived. (To be continued......)