Li Yuanhao summoned the tribes and originally planned to establish the country in October of the year end. However, the traitor Shan Yu Weiliang reported him for plotting to become emperor, forcing him to act earlier than planned.
In the first year of Baoyuan in the Song Dynasty and in August of the seventh year of Chongxi in the Liao Dynasty, Li Yuanhao, with the support of his trusted ministers such as Yeli Renrong and Yang Shousu, built an altar in the southern suburbs of Xingqing Prefecture and officially ascended the throne of the emperor. The country was named Daxia and the era name was changed to Tianshou Lifa Yanzuo.
Historically, it was not until the first month of the following year, two months after he proclaimed himself emperor, that Li Yuanhao wrote a letter to the Song Dynasty, asking it to recognize his status. However, the Song Dynasty refused, so he became angry and started a war.
But now it was Shan Yu Weiliang who denounced him. Almost as soon as he proclaimed himself emperor in August, the Song Dynasty responded in September, issuing an edict to "strip the official titles bestowed upon him" and halt trade. A notice was posted on the Song-Xia border, offering a large reward to high officials for the capture of Li Yuanhao or for his head.
In this case, there is naturally no need to submit a letter of credence.
Li Yuanhao simply sent Fan Zhongyan a "letter of shame" in which he accused the Song Dynasty of betrayal and mocked the Song army for its corruption and incompetence. He also used the power of the Liao Dynasty to threaten the Song Dynasty and finally stated that Xixia was still willing to make peace with the Song Dynasty.
Obviously, this was Li Yuanhao's attempt to turn the tables and put the blame on the Song Dynasty for the war he launched against it.
Fan Zhongyan didn't even reply.
Because all this so-called shirking of responsibility and shifting blame is meaningless. On the battlefield, success or failure determines heroism. If you win, you are naturally on the side of justice. If you lose, any rebuttal is just an excuse.
Just like the Liao Dynasty's Chongxi increase in currency, asking the Song Dynasty to increase annual tribute without any reason, is this reasonable? Obviously it is not reasonable, but what can be done?
Since the Song Dynasty could not defeat the Liao Dynasty, it was bullied and blackmailed by the Liao Dynasty.
So now Li Yuanhao has started a rebellion, hoping to shift the blame onto the Song Dynasty. If he is defeated and the Song army marches directly towards Xingqing Prefecture, Li Yuanhao will probably have to change his tune and immediately write a letter begging for mercy.
In the final analysis.
What Zhao Jun said will never be wrong.
National defense is the foundation of diplomacy, dignity lies only on the edge of the sword, and truth is only within the range of the cannon!
With the two sides no longer at peace, they no longer had the same concerns as before. Li Yuanhao frequently sent spies to the border to gather military intelligence, instigating the Tanguts and Han people within the Song Dynasty to ally with the Xia, and openly severed diplomatic exchanges between the Western Xia and the Song Dynasty.
Fan Zhongyan was not to be outdone. He closed all trade with Western Xia, moved all Han people on the border back into the country, and began to openly build fortresses and walls at various transportation hubs.
In addition to these measures, Pang Ji had been cultivating farmland in Guanzhong in the rear for a year. He summoned the people and used the money sent by the court to hire workers to dig canals and build water conservancy facilities. He also resettled the Han people who migrated from the border, distributed land, and restored the governance of Guanzhong.
Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, Guanzhong had been practically destroyed. This, coupled with overdevelopment, had led to severe soil erosion upstream. For this reason, Pang Ji prohibited the felling of trees along the riverbanks and ordered the stationed garrison troops to cut timber from the Qinling Mountains to the south and transport it to Chang'an via the Yellow River and Wei River.
The Song Dynasty's war machine also began to churn. Zhao Zhen had been stockpiling food two years earlier. Water transport from the south continuously brought grain to Bianliang, and countless quantities of grain were sent from Kaifeng to Guanzhong daily, fully preparing for this battle.
Just as the relationship between Song and Xia broke down and both sides entered a tense state of preparation for war, Zhao Jun, who was far away in the south, had arrived in Changsha in August of the first year of Baoyuan.
In June, he returned to Hunan from Guangdong and began to seriously investigate the work in Hunan.
In Jiangxi, he had been to Jinggang Mountain, which was then called Shihan Mountain. When he arrived in Hunan and passed through Xiangtan, he deliberately went to a place called Shaoshan. In the village at the foot of the mountain, he looked at the small hill in the south for a long time.
On August 10th, the weather was overcast and drizzling. The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are in flood season from May to October, and while the rain wasn't heavy, the river was swollen, making navigation unsafe.
So Zhao Jun stopped in Changsha.
This city also brought him memories. His parents went out to Changsha to work when he was a child. Zhao Jun relied on nine years of compulsory education to attend elementary school in the town, and then was admitted to the junior high school in the county.
By the time he was in junior high school, his parents had already established themselves in Changsha, and since he had excellent grades at the time, he was taken to Changsha to attend a prestigious school.
Therefore, he had lived here for several years, and it was also the city where his parents had worked hard for many years.
At that time, Changsha was an important transportation hub connecting Guangzhou in the south and Jingxiang in the north. It was also a very large city, covering an area almost close to the entire Changsha city in later generations.
Later, during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song, because Changsha was so large, a Shanhua County was separated from it, just like Kaifeng County and Xiangfu County were separated from Bianliang.
The approximate location of this county is Hetian, Wumei, Ganshan, Huangxing Town, Tiaoma, Lituo, Dongjing, Datuopu, Pingtang, Baiquan, Wangchengpo, Bairuopu and other places in Changsha in later generations.
The Changsha County in the north is the city center of Changsha in later generations. The main reason for the division between the north and the south is the rapid development of Changsha and the expansion of the city.
The current Changsha County Magistrate is named Chen Xiliang. Zhao Jun knows him. Although he does not like to read "History of the Song Dynasty", he still knows relatively famous people such as Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng. Otherwise, he would not be able to make any comments on Lu Yijian.
In addition, he had investigated Chen Xiliang's political achievements before coming here, and had a very pleasant conversation with Chen Xiliang after arriving in Changsha, so this time he did not occupy other people's transport envoy's office, but simply lived in the Changsha County Government Office.
It was raining heavily outside the house in the backyard of the county government office. Since the day before yesterday, the rain had been getting heavier. Zhao Jun had stayed in Changsha for more than ten days. From the current perspective, he was afraid that he could not leave for Hubei immediately.
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