Chapter 625 The Empire is Moving
Zhao Sihan carefully opened the box and was surprised to find a fresh green jade bracelet inside. The queen took it up affectionately and gave it to Zhao Sihan to wear, telling her that it was a treasure tribute from the southern tribe, and that her father-in-law had personally picked it.
Zhao Sihan was delighted and thanked his father repeatedly.
The little emperor said slowly: He knows everything that happened today, and he must be careful in the future and must not let the emperor be kept in the dark.
Zhao Sihan was shocked and realized that this was the key point.
This was the little emperor warning her to act on her own initiative, so she immediately said politely, "Please rest assured, father-in-law," that she was loyal to her country and had no ulterior motives, and that she would report any problems to her father-in-law in the future.
The little emperor was very satisfied and picked up the teacup to drink tea.
When Zhao Sihan saw this scene, he immediately left, making the excuse that he had to deal with official business.
The queen watched her obedient daughter-in-law leave, nodded approvingly, and drank her tea.
The young emperor also admired Zhao Sihan's ability. He dared to make arrangements before the court meeting and tricked the Gao and Chai families into falling into the trap.
The queen began to blame him, always asking Xiao Linzi and Sihan to go to Xin Song to ask for it. How could a woman have the nerve to go back to her parents' home to ask for money? Sihan had no choice but to take action this time, and she could not be blamed for acting on her own.
The emperor nodded and said: He didn't, there are still wise people in the court. Today, several young ministers spoke up for justice and are not afraid of being suppressed by the Gao and Chai families.
The queen looked at the little emperor and said: Such ministers should be given important positions. The key is still the emperor. If the emperor is not afraid of them, the country will belong to the emperor.
The little emperor was speechless because his wife had touched his sore spot. He put down his tea bowl and left.
In the north, the grassland empire was also full of dangers.
Hubili and his delegation had not walked far across the border of New Song when they were immediately met by servants from the royal court and led to the tent of his mother, Sulu Henidi.
It turned out that not long after this guy left the royal court, his mother learned that her brave son had disguised himself as an envoy to the New Song Dynasty. The mother was worried about her son, and just after the New Year, she went to the border village to guard him despite the cold weather. When the mother and son met, they hugged each other and cried.
Hubili helped his mother to sit down and said happily that he had met sister , and that sister had asked him to bring a gift to my mother.
He waved his hand and the guards immediately brought up a sturdy box which he opened. He carefully took out two glass objects from the silk cloth and placed them on the table for his mother to take a closer look. They were top-quality crystal and colored glaze phoenixes.
Sulu Henidi was stunned by what she saw. The two huge phoenixes were crystal clear, lifelike with their wings spread and flying, and they looked almost exactly the same. How big a crystal would be needed to make such a phoenix?
His mother said cheerfully: Zhao Yulin didn’t give my son a gift, so these two phoenixes will be given to each of us, one each.
Hubili said with a smile: "My brother-in-law is so generous. He gave us 100,000 kilograms of fine iron right away. He also ordered the border to open the trade immediately."
His mother said indifferently: One hundred thousand kilograms of fine iron still needs to be exchanged for the fine horses from our grassland, and the price is the same as that of Tibetan horses.
The horses on our grassland are tall and mighty, how can they be compared with the Tibetan horses?
Hubili sighed and said that things are different now. It was already very good that the New Song Dynasty could quickly open up trade and agree to exchange horses for fine iron.
His mother was very clear about this. As the saying goes, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. The New Song Dynasty is now very powerful, and the Grassland Empire can no longer force the New Song Dynasty to make a surrender.
Moreover, the New Song Dynasty had restricted the import of ironware into the grassland as early as the period of Lemazhen. In order to forge military equipment, the empire collected iron pots and ironware on the grassland and melted them down to forge weapons. As a result, most families did not have iron pots and kettles, and had long been using pottery and clay pots to boil water and cook.
Now that the new Song Dynasty has allowed the opening of trade, the iron pots sold to the border are exquisitely made and cheap. Traveling merchants snap up the goods as soon as they see them. The grassland is truly in a shortage of ironware.
Hubli knew that Sulu Henidi was worried about his sister, so he continued to tell his mother the story of Hulan, telling her that his sister was already a mother of two children, and was the governor of Qiongzhou. She was still young, beautiful, lively and lovely. He spent this year's Spring Festival in Qiongzhou with his sister.
His mother was delighted and her face was filled with happiness, but she said lightly: A prefect is nothing, Hulan is destined to be a princess or a queen, but she became a concubine, it's a good thing for that boy.
Hubili said affectionately that Yulin doted on our sister. All his women, regardless of age, were his wives. Yulin also personally went to Qiongzhou to dig a well for our sister to get rid of the heat. The people of the New Song Dynasty called that heat natural gas. Our sister used that well to boil salt and brew wine. The heat was not exhausted, and she also tried to smelt iron. The people around used copper pipes to connect the natural gas into their homes to boil water, cook, and cook pig food. The house was clean and dust-free. It was a great kindness.
It’s nothing like us on the grassland, where people still use firewood for heating and burn cow dung to cook, creating a smoky and dusty environment.
Suluhenidi was fascinated by what she heard. It was really wonderful that there was such a magical natural gas. She tried her best to imagine the wonders of natural gas.
Hubili continued to tell his mother about the republican system being implemented in the new Song Dynasty, in which the emperor was not allowed to monopolize power, nor was there a hereditary system for princes, so naturally there would be no queens or princesses.
However, in the current New Song Dynasty, our brother-in-law has the final say.
My mother, don't underestimate Hulan's Qiongzhou, the population alone is more than one million. My sister celebrated the Spring Festival and set off fireworks in the city. It took three large ships, and the huge city was illuminated by the fireworks as bright as day.
Sulu Henidi had always lived in the north and had never seen with her own eyes how big the cargo ships in the south were. She had no idea how many fireworks Hulan had set off. Only when she heard Hubili say that the fireworks lit up the entire Qiongzhou City did she have an idea. She estimated that there must have been a lot of them.
When she heard Hubili say that Zhao Yulin had built an iron chain bridge across the Baimo River to make it easier for the people of Qiongzhou in Hulan to cross the river, and that it took 100,000 kilograms of fine iron, she was stunned.
My God, how many blast furnaces are needed to produce this?
In order to fight wars, their empire needs fine iron to make scimitars and arrows. Now they can only exchange horses with the New Song Dynasty, but they may only be able to get 100,000 kilograms in return a year.
When his mother saw her son's excited look, she said with concern that he was just talking and asked him to have some tea.
Then he said: The matter in the south is over, and our own matter has come up again. His mother rebelled against A Li Bu Ge, and under the instigation of Kuang Chuan and a group of princes in the west, he held a meeting and declared himself Khan, and has ascended the throne and sat on the dragon throne.
Hubili said confidently: Don't be afraid, my brother-in-law has reminded me that Xinsong is relatively stable now, so let's concentrate on sorting out things on the grassland.
This guy immediately issued an imperial edict to recall the troops stationed in Goryeo.
Although the grassland empire occupied a large area of Goryeo territory, its barbaric acts of burning, killing and looting left Goryeo littered with corpses. The timid ones fled to the mountains and forests. The farming population left in the city was too small and the output was not enough to meet consumption. Their small army also had to face attacks from Goryeo guerrillas.
It's totally a matter of gaining nothing.
Therefore, Hubili's first strike was towards Goryeo, in order to shrink the battle line and concentrate his forces.
Sulu Henidi said with great regret that these were territories conquered by our grassland men with their lives, and now they were lost in vain.
Hubili said that we should give up what we should give up. If we continue to stay in Goryeo, the battle lines on the east and west are too long, and we cannot hold on with such a small number of soldiers. We will be eaten up by the New Song's Divine Power Army until not even a bone is left.
The mother and daughter set out for Mobei while discussing the matter. On the way, Hubili issued a second decree, asking his personal guard, Brother Dong, to dispatch the border towns near Daxing Prefecture to relocate workshop craftsmen, away from the attacks of the New Song Kingdom's Divine Mighty Army, and maintain the stability of the border.
The Mongolian army must never be allowed to take action without authorization and provoke the Shenwei Army of the New Song Dynasty.
This guy went to Chengdu and found that Shu was too prosperous and wealthy. He believed that such a powerful country could not be easily shaken by any force as long as the ruler did not act recklessly.
Therefore, Hubili decided to avoid fighting and rest, staying away from the edge of the New Song Kingdom's Divine Power Army.
His mother was depressed and told him that they had to move again. It was convenient for the tribe to move to pasture, but the empire had to maintain a large army, and losing a few workshops would be a huge loss .
Hubili didn't think so. He said that the old must go before the new can come. Compared with the new Song Dynasty, we are far behind. Soldiers still mainly use bows and arrows and scimitars, Huihui cannons lead the way, and catapults dominate the outcome of wars.
The New Song State has already produced a large number of new catapults, mortars, and red-coated cannons. Their fire guns and crossbows have fast firing speeds and great power, and they are constantly being improved.
This is not a big deal. Last year, they brought out a horse-drawn carrier, which was even more aggressive, spitting out tongues of fire non-stop. Our crooked horses and iron pagodas were useless. They were beaten and fell down as soon as they rushed to the front of the battle.
Sulu Henidi had heard a long time ago that the small southern barbarians had developed a new firearm called the horse-mounted firearm, which could throw steel bullets from a distance and cut horses and men in half, which was indeed extremely brutal.
She asked Hubli: Since my son said Zhao Yulin is so good, why doesn't he ask him to send us ten or eight horses to carry the load?
Hubili was immediately frustrated.
Fairy Banban, these are not the horses from his grassland. If he is in a good mood, it would not be a problem to give ten or a hundred horses to anyone.
Chengdu, Zhao Yulin has returned.
Zhao Feiyan immediately convened his ministers to discuss the matter and decided to start renovation and repair of Dujiangyan, Lingqu and Zhengguoqu in Guanzhong. After these three water conservancy projects were completed, the second batch of renovation projects would be launched.
Zhao Yulin proposed that the reorganized and separated teams be used to establish a separate railway department to take charge of the construction of the country's railways, highways, waterways, bridges and tunnels, and that the teams of officials from various ministries involved in such matters be integrated into the department to focus on the country's large-scale construction. With such a militarized team, the construction speed would be greatly accelerated and the quality would definitely be guaranteed.
All the gentlemen nodded.
Miao Gui said happily that he was worried about how to arrange the personnel, and his brother would help him solve the problem.
He said that he had already found the Minister of the Ministry of Road, and that person was Li Dagui, the commander of the Shandong Army stationed in Hebei. Dagui did a great job in repairing the Cunjin Dike when we were fighting against Hubili, so he was the only one who could be the Minister of the Ministry of Road.
Miao Gui nodded in agreement and let him go to persuade and arrange it.
Du Fan felt that it was a bit hasty, so he asked Zhao Yulin, "General Da Kui has been working in the military, so isn't it inappropriate for him to suddenly enter the civilian sector?"
