Chapter 606: All Roads to Wealth
After the banquet, Zhao Feiyan asked Shunzhidi to invite Yu Dayi over for tea and chat.
She laughed and said: Along the way, the roads were wide and narrow, bumpy and uneven. You can imagine what the roads in other places are like. They are definitely not that good. Does Mr. Yu have a national road plan?
Dayi reported to her: That happened in the previous dynasty, and most of them were transported by water. Shu is a dangerous place, and there is no money, so we can only make repairs.
It’s not like our New Song Dynasty, which is still discussing repairing this and that.
Zhao Feiyan nodded, took the letter from Zhidi and handed it to Yu Dayi, saying: Here is the letter from the third young master, Mr. Yu, please take a good look. Our New Song is about to recover all the territory. The Ministry of Works is in charge of the overall construction of the country. Both water and land routes are ways for the people to get rich, so we need a regulation.
Yu Dayi woke up immediately and said, Immortal, it’s a good thing you didn’t continue talking.
The Ministry of Works is responsible for building bridges and roads to facilitate people's travel. He just took office as the Minister of Works, so why does he have this attitude?
Zhao Feiyan told him with a smile: There were straight roads in the pre-Qin period, and it was fun to run on them. We have been fighting against the Mongolian army for many years, and now we can free up our hands to do something for the people.
We need to have plans for how to build the roads from the capital of the new Song Dynasty to each road, how wide to build, where to build, and when to build them. We also need to have plans for the roads from each road to the prefectures and counties to which they belong, and for the roads from prefectures and counties to the towns and villages below.
She took a sip of tea and continued: The train from Xinshi to Jiayang is about to start running, and there will be more new and exotic transportation tools in the future. How about the road? The Ministry of Works must plan for the court first.
Yu Dayi was so surprised that his mouth opened wide, and his chest was filled with a thousand questions. He was thinking, how could our Feiyan King know so many truths?
Seeing that he was distracted, Zhao Feiyan picked up the teacup and drank tea with a smile, saying politely, "Thank you for your help, sir."
Yu Dayi knew that the king was calling him away, so he immediately stood up and said goodbye.
When Shunzhidi saw Dayi leave, she closed the door and praised her: Our king's profound speech absolutely astounded the Minister of Works, and he was stunned and at a loss what to do.
The woman chuckled and said: "I have read the letter written by Brother Yulin. Our New Song Dynasty cannot just focus on the smooth flow of waterways. In recent years, local officials have been repairing roads and bridges. We should unify the standards across the country and do it in a planned manner."
At this time, the maid came in and reported: Minister of Rites Li Gong is here to visit.
Zhao Feiyan went to sit in the small flower hall, and Li Liang followed her in and delivered the letter from Shunfengsi . While waiting, he said that the Kingdom of Goryeo requested to send troops, and asked the King of Feiyan for instructions?
It turned out that the young emperor of Goryeo initially resisted the attack of the Mongolian army and lived a comfortable life on Ganghwa Island. However, the Mongolian army marched eastward again this year. Naturally, the few soldiers under his command could not withstand the influx of the Mongolian army, and they fled into the mountains and forests bit by bit.
As soon as the young emperor crossed the sea by boat and set foot on his three thousand miles of land, he immediately received intelligence that the Mongolian navy was invading. He was so scared that he quickly got back on the boat and fled to his temporary palace.
The young emperor was at a loss as to what to do. On the one hand, he mobilized troops to defend the country, and on the other hand, he arranged for his son to send a letter to the New Song Dynasty for help.
In fact, the navy of the New Song Dynasty arrived within two days of Goryeo's letter of help. When they entered the strait, they fought against the Mongolian navy that was attacking the island. Most of the ships of the New Song Dynasty's navy were new ships with large tonnage and high speed. They were equipped with a large number of mortars and red cannons. Their firepower overwhelmed the Mongolian navy and forced the sharks to flee.
The battle situation can be imagined.
When the King of Goryeo learned that the new Song army had arrived, he was overjoyed and had already welcomed the new Song army ashore to celebrate their success.
After reading the letter from Goryeo, Zhao Feiyan said to Li Liang with a smile: This letter from Goryeo has been delayed for too long on the road. General Zhou of our navy has already sent his Bohai fleet to Goryeo to rescue it. There is no need to worry.
Mr. Li might as well write back to encourage them not to be afraid of sacrifice, to persist in the war of resistance, and to defeat the Mongolian army together with our Shenwei Army to bring peace to the world.
Li Liang immediately took the order and left.
Seeing that she handled these state affairs easily, Shunzhidi lamented that she was not as good as Feiyan. She said that she had not slept well since she sat on the throne of the head of state, and was always worried about handling them improperly.
Zhao Feiyan said confidently: I have my brother leading the army to fight outside, and we have so many good ministers to help us at home, so why should we worry? We should believe what Brother Yulin said: The sky will not fall.
Zhao Yulin ate and slept on the boat, and hid at the foot of Cuiping Mountain in Yibin. The captain of the guard, Jing Gang, asked him: "Master, would you like to go home? Rest for a night before leaving."
He told us to keep walking.
The official ship then turned into the Mahu River and went upstream to Xinshi, while the baggage transport team behind it went east along the Yangtze River.
Jing Gang said: Young Master, it's hard for you to ride on the transport ship with us.
He jokingly asked Jinggang: Is he that hypocritical? We have been to all kinds of environments. We must be careful on this trip and must not reveal our identities.
This time, Zhao Yulin decided to completely conceal his itinerary, maximize the deterrent effect of the sudden appearance of the new military weapons, and move forward in secret.
At this time, the Minister of War Yang Xingyun had inspected Gansu Road and arrived at Yulinzhai in Shaanxi. After Hao Xiaoming took over, he immediately asked for the task, which was to cross the river and attack Jiuyuan.
Yang Xingyun told him with a smile that he came for this matter, but he could not reveal any signs at the moment and had to prepare for battle as soon as possible. News would be received in half a month.
Half a month later, Zhao Yulin secretly went to Taiyuan Prefecture. After meeting with Lai Chuanfang, he ordered the Datong Prefecture Campaign to recover Yunzhou. The goal was to capture Yunzhou where Tacaer was entrenched and recover the lost territory.
Lai Chuanfang was overjoyed and reported to him: Brothers, we have been working hard for more than a year to prepare for war. The cavalry has grown to 40,000 and we are just waiting for your order.
He waved his hand and told them to stop talking about such useless things. How to fight was their business. Leave Liu Zheng to him to lead. He would go to take Yunzhou back personally. After the brothers met in Yunzhou, they could attack freely.
Lai Chuanfang said like a little wife: As soon as my brother came, he took the chicken legs and asked my brothers to gnaw on the chicken ribs.
Zhao Yulin laughed and said: What are you talking about? He is going to practice new tactics.
Lai Chuanfang said that he knew that the newly formed battalion had already passed by, and there were only two or three thousand people. How much combat power could a few heavy machine guns carried by horses have? The young master must not be careless.
Zhao Yulin was a little confused. What kind of heavy machine gun is this, carried by a horse? Who gave his weapon such a stupid name?
After a night's rest, he continued to head north. After five days of bumpy journey, he arrived at Yanmen Pass, the northernmost military camp of the New Song Dynasty.
Deputy Commander Li Shichang caught him and complained: "Young Master, why are you still coming to the border? The brothers are worried about you."
Zhao Yulin said with a smile: "Why are you worried? Are you worried that Yanmen will be lost, so you tied me up?"
The commander of Yanmen Pass, Captain Liu Zheng of the Sixth Column, immediately said: "Don't worry, Third Master, Yanmen Pass is safe."
Zhao Yulin laughed and said, "Then there is nothing to worry about. Let's go and take a look."
Liu Zheng asked him what he wanted to see?
Young Master, are you going to check the defense?
Zhao Yulin shook his head.
Li Shichang asked us to go to the back mountain, young master wants to see the newly formed camp, right?
The group walked and talked until they came to the newly built camp on the back mountain. A sturdy man ran up and reported: The new third battalion of the Shenwei Army is in training, please give us your instructions, Third Young Master.
Zhao Yulin was surprised and asked the boy how he recognized him.
The man scratched his head and said with a chuckle: He saw the Third Young Master and his brothers' training in Cuiping Mountain and Xinshi, and he remembered it all. Naturally, he will never forget it.
Zhao Yulin was amused and asked him what his name was.
The soldier reported: The commander of the new third battalion is Zhang Dabiao, he is twenty-three years old and his native place is...
He immediately waved his hands, saying stop talking, that's enough. He thought Zhang Dabiao's name sounded so familiar, and then he looked at his face, so innocent and cute.
He asked: How is the team doing?
Da Biao told him that the entire battalion had a strength of 3,000 people, only seven new firearms, and were equipped with 18 mortars. The morale of the brothers was high and they were all eager soldiers.
Liu Zheng said with a laugh: Just those eighteen mortars make our brothers jealous. The Third Young Master is really generous. He equipped only three thousand men with so many heavy weapons.
Zhao Yulin said cheerfully, "Take it slow, all future teams will be organized like the new Third Battalion."
He asked Zhang Dabiao if he dared to be the vanguard and advance into Yunzhou?
Da Biao was stunned at first, then he stood at attention and said loudly: Please give the order, Third Young Master, the Third Battalion is ready to fight at any time. These days, the brothers have disassembled and reassembled the horses' loadouts, but they can only aim and pull the bolts, and they have long wanted to go into battle and kill the enemy.
Zhao Yulin shouted: Great, that’s great.
I immediately asked him: "Carried by a horse?" Who gave our baby this name?
Da Biao said honestly: My brothers didn’t know what to call it. He saw that the treasure was a bit heavy, so he had always taken it apart and carried it on a horse, so he named it Horse-Traveled.
Haha, damn, that’s how it is.
Zhao Yulin smiled and told Geng to go, and Geng immediately returned to the central army tent.
Li Shichang reported to him: 50,000 elite troops have been assembled at Yanmen Pass , and even their vanguard army can go into battle.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said there was no rush, Lai Chuanfang was already organizing the army to march north. At the moment, there was no doubt that we would defeat the enemy, and the key was to gain a foothold on the grassland and scare the enemy so that they would not dare to come and make trouble again.
Liu Zheng said excitedly: Our firearms are better than those of the northern barbarians, but he immediately remembered what he said: we cannot call them northern barbarians, and we must respect the enemy. He quickly said that it was wrong, it was the Mongolian army, our firearms are ten times better than those of the Mongolian army, and we will definitely win the battle. The third young master was right, only by completely scaring the Mongolian army can they not dare to come down and plunder at will.
Zhao Yulin smiled when he saw Liu Zheng's embarrassed look, and asked him: Do you dare to lead the new third battalion as the vanguard, advance fifty or even a hundred miles to attract the Mongolian army to fight?
Liu Zheng was stunned immediately.
It was too risky for just a few thousand people to go deep into the enemy's territory and attack the Mongolian army.
Li Shichang said hesitantly: With only such a small number of troops in the New Third Battalion, isn't it too risky?
Liu Zheng quickly regained his composure and said in a loud voice that he was willing to do whatever the young master asked him to do.
Zhao Yulin couldn't help laughing and said to them: Since you haven't seen the power of horse-drawn vehicles, it's inevitable that you have doubts. This time, the brothers will attack together, and he will take the lead and walk in the front.
The two generals immediately said nervously: How can we let the young master take risks? We absolutely cannot do that.
