Zhao Jiu nodded, thinking, and then asked: "Besides military affairs, does Li Ganshun have any other famous achievements?"
"Yes." Zhai Ruwen continued to respond casually. "He worshipped Buddhism and Confucianism. During his decades in power, the decades-long dispute between 'Han rituals' and 'Fan rituals' in Western Xia was finally resolved. Now Western Xia has become a Han dynasty..."
Zhao Jiu laughed in silence. This was expected... Which decent monarch of a decent country would not sort out the ideology before starting work? Even the Jin people, didn't they immediately carry out the sinicization reform after the coup?
"No matter what, this Li Ganshun is a leader who maintains the status quo?" After laughing, Zhao Jiu still looked at him solemnly.
"I think Li Ganshun can indeed be described as someone who is capable of maintaining the status quo." Zhai Ruwen bowed his head.
However, after hearing this, Zhao Jiu asked curiously again: "Let's not talk about Li Ganshun, just talk about Xixia. I still don't understand one thing... Isn't the core of Xixia just the Hetao area? Even the foundation of the country is the Lingzhou and Xingzhou area... No matter how fertile that area is, it is not even one-fifth of Guanxi, right? Why did Li Yuanhao establish a country? And then the country continued for nearly a hundred years?"
Zhai Ruowen seemed to want to say something but stopped himself. Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to respond.
"Qu Duan." Zhao Jiu simply called out his name. "You go ahead."
"I think it's probably the vast sea!" Qu Duan answered with a stiff face. "So that the emperor knows, if you want to take the land of Xingling, there are only three ways. One is to go out of Xihe and go down along the Yellow River; the second is to go out of Jingyuan, go along Hulu River and then connect to the Yellow River; the third is to go out of Baimachuan and connect to Lingzhouchuan... Among the three roads, the closest one is the road from Baimachuan to Lingzhouchuan, but it also has hundreds of miles of vast sea of desert to go through."
"How many hundreds of miles is a few hundred miles?"
"The narrowest part is two or three hundred miles, and the widest part is six or seven hundred miles..."
Zhao Jiu felt it was getting more and more absurd: "Hundreds of miles of desert... how could there be Baima River and Lingzhou River as roads in the middle?"
"yes."
"Then why not send 50,000 elite troops, prepare logistics, and attack Lingzhou by surprise?" Zhao Jiu said seriously. "Don't play dumb with me. With the national strength of Xixia, even during the time of Li Yuanhao, could there be 50,000 elite troops?"
"Your Majesty..." Zhao Ding couldn't help but step out and interrupt.
"Qu Duan, let's talk!" Zhao Jiu raised his hand to stop Zhao Ding.
"Your Majesty." Qu Duan said carefully. "It should work, but military affairs are not certain..."
"Why go through the desert and the vast sea? Why go through the Hulu River? Can't we take the Yellow River as the food route and fight steadily?" Zhao Jiu was obviously a little angry. "I'm not saying that we should hit the target in one shot. What I mean is that Xixia was founded nearly a hundred years ago. From Li Yuanhao to Li Ganshun, the Song Dynasty must have lost millions of people in this tiny country and lost countless billions of military funds, right? A million people, divided into twenty groups, can fight along the Yellow River and even Hengshan. Even if the whole army is wiped out nineteen times, it should be successful once, right?! And I'm not saying that Xixia can be destroyed in one battle. If we can touch the hinterland of Lingzhou once, wouldn't the overall situation be successful? Even if the destiny is not on the Song Dynasty, it will not work in twenty times, but if the army advances twenty times, the Xixia people should be worn out, right? Why is it like this? Or are Di Qing and his people useless? Are the history books I read fake? Are the people who compiled the history books Di Qing's sons?"
"Your Majesty." Qu Duan finally couldn't bear it anymore, but he raised his head and faced the angry eyes of several officials. "The people who compiled the history books were the sons of Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan. If Di Qing replaced Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan, Xixia would have perished long ago."
Several ministers and officials had no choice but to go and see Emperor Zhao, but they only saw him sitting there with his head raised and not saying a word.
Half a day later, the emperor was seen holding his mouth and rubbing his lips, saying angrily: "One is Yanyun, the second is Xixia, the third is Nanyue, and the fourth is Dali. They have left a legacy of disaster for a hundred years. It is a disgrace!"
All the civil and military officials dared not speak for a moment.
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