"This battle truly enhances the prestige of the Song Dynasty. After this battle, I'm afraid the Liao and Western Xia will never dare to invade again."
"Then should we mobilize troops now?"
Everyone was overjoyed. Who could have thought that they could defeat Western Xia with only a few thousand troops and with almost no major losses, and force Li Yuanhao to return in defeat?
If this gets out, it will not only boost the morale of the military and the people at home, but the surrounding countries will probably once again look up to the strength of the Song Dynasty.
It is still unknown whether it can even recover to the heyday of the Han and Tang dynasties.
However, Zhao Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Don't be too happy too soon. This battle is full of unexpected events. We still need to be prepared for the Western Xia and Liao."
"Oh? Isn't this a victory for firearms?"
Wang Zeng was puzzled.
"It's not a big win, it was more of a random factor. We should clear our heads."
Zhao Jun said.
After listening to Zhang Kang's story, he skipped the framework of Dasheng and looked at the problem, and found the key to the problem.
In fact, the whole process was not because the musketeers were strong. Even if the musketeers used three-stage shooting, the firepower network they formed could not allow them to deal with ten thousand cavalrymen with only one thousand people.
The problem was that they were not dealing with fearless cavalry, but an ordinary army that was afraid of death.
Everyone is afraid.
Comrades around you keep falling down mysteriously. No matter how brave and fearless you are, you will be scared.
So Zeng Yong and Zhang Wenwu first blocked the enemy's siege.
Then Wang Shiyun launched a deadly artillery bombardment, and defeated the Western Xia army under the continuous firepower, which exploded a small steel cannon and scrapped six cannons.
Therefore, the whole process was actually full of coincidences. If Li Yuanhao had paid more attention to the rear, or if the Xixia encirclement and suppression troops had been more fearless, Lanzhou City would probably have changed hands by now.
So Zhao Jun didn't think they could rest easy, they still had to be cautious.
"Then how should we counter Xixia's actions?"
Fan Zhongyan asked.
"How about this, Lao Fan won't go to Hebei first, let Zhang Kang go instead."
Zhao Jun thought for a moment and said, "First, we should guard against the Liao Kingdom. As for the Western Xia, we should hold our troops in place for the time being and see how they react. If they don't apologize, we will mobilize our forces next year and use this incident as an excuse to destroy the Western Xia. If they do apologize."
"How do you say that?"
"Then we'll give them a good beating and make them pay the annual tribute. If they don't agree, we'll continue to destroy them next year."
"Asking Xixia to pay annual tribute? This is unheard of."
Everyone looked at each other.
In the past, the Song Dynasty paid annual tribute to others. Even if there were foreign envoys who offered tribute, the Song Dynasty had to give more generous gifts in return.
Now the situation is reversed.
"The rules still need to be changed in the future."
Zhao Jun narrowed his eyes and said, "It means that the army is still in the restructuring period. After the restructuring is completed, it will need to be trained well. Otherwise, I will want to destroy Xixia this year."
It is not convenient to use force now. After all, internal reform and rectification have not been completed yet. Sending troops rashly will only disrupt the original plan.
And most importantly.
Once a full-scale attack is launched against Western Xia, the Liao Kingdom will also be affected.
At present, the Song Dynasty does not have the ability to annex the Liao Dynasty. If the two sides go to war, there is a high probability that the Song Dynasty may destroy the Western Xia, but it will be caught in a long-term war with the Liao Dynasty.
A war that lasts for several years, or even just one or two years, will be a bad thing for the people's livelihood, which has been improving.
Therefore, the overall policy at present is still focused on development.
Store up food, build high walls, and slowly become king.
Let’s wait a few years until the Song Dynasty becomes stronger.
Now that we have defeated Xixia, let's see how Xixia reacts.
It would be easy if the other party did nothing. Next year, when the military reform is completed and the training, command and combat effectiveness are greatly improved, we can use the Xixia's attack this year and the tearing up of the contract as an excuse to destroy them.
Even if the Western Xia did not attack the territory of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty could use this excuse as long as they said they had signed a treaty with Qingtang.
Anyway, contracts are meant to be violated.
By the time Western Xia was destroyed, the only opponent would be the Liao Kingdom, and the two sides would at most be engaged in a protracted war.
And if the Western Xia hurriedly submitted an apology and hoped for forgiveness from the Song Dynasty, then the Song Dynasty would not be unable to accept their apology while prioritizing domestic development.
But the apology must be sincere, and giving war reparations is not excessive.
Let the Western Xia pay compensation for a few years, use the money as military expenses, continue to strengthen the army, and wait a few years until the Song Dynasty is strong enough to completely destroy the Western Xia and Liao, then completely launch the campaign to destroy the Xia and Liao.
This way, firstly, it would not harm people's livelihood, and secondly, it would have a greater chance of success. Finally, and most importantly, the Song Dynasty needed time to cultivate talents internally in order to digest the Liao and Xia territories in the future.
Once the Western Xia and Liao were destroyed, it would be equivalent to jumping from the original 3 million square kilometers of land to nearly 10 million square kilometers of land.
It took years just to digest it.
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