"Human greed is insatiable. The Song Dynasty only has about three million square kilometers, while the Liao Kingdom is close to six million square kilometers. It would be very difficult for us to swallow up a territory twice our size at once."
Zhao Jun walked forward and said, "But this time, I will sow the seeds of decline and destruction for the Liao Kingdom. If Yelu Zongzhen loses the Yanyun area, he will probably feel like a thorn in his side. He will even more frantically devote all his national strength to developing firearms and military industry, thus further weakening his national strength."
"It seems that I will soon destroy the Liao Kingdom, take over the Northeast, and achieve a vast territory that even the prosperous Tang Dynasty could not achieve."
Zhao Zhen couldn't suppress the smile on his face.
Although the prosperous Tang Dynasty was powerful and owned nearly 13 million square kilometers of land, a large part of this area actually came from vassal states, such as Anxi, Anbei, Annan, Andong and other protectorates.
The縻州 can indeed be included in the map territory, because the縻州 belong to the actual controlled area.縻 is just a means of control, cooperating with local leaders or rulers to jointly manage. It is just that the control power is slightly weaker than that of the Central Plains. It does not mean that the縻州 does not belong to the Tang Dynasty.
However, the Song Dynasty did not want to annex the states, but to actually incorporate these territories into its territory. In the future, it would use trains and ships as means of transportation to truly achieve local control. Unlike before, the emperor was far away and the remote states would immediately rebel and become independent if the Central Plains dynasty had any signs of unrest.
So to a certain extent, if the Song Dynasty could formally take back the Western Regions, the Northeast, the Northern Desert and other places, that is, eliminate the Western Xia and Liao Kingdoms, the Kara-Khanid Khanate, the Western Region Uighurs and other places, and no longer set up vassal states, but truly incorporate them into the territory, then the Song Dynasty would indeed be stronger than the Tang Dynasty at its peak.
After all, one is a restrictive rule and the other is actual control, which cannot be compared.
"It's just around the corner, but don't be too happy too soon, brother."
Zhao Jun poured cold water on him, saying, "The larger the territory, the more difficult it is to govern. With the level of development we have in later generations, even a 20 million square kilometer Russian bear would crumble overnight. Unless we're so ruthless as to slaughter everyone and allow the Han people to occupy this vast land, ethnic conflict is inevitable."
"Yes, I naturally know."
Zhao Zhen calmed down a bit from his excitement and nodded in agreement with Zhao Jun's opinion, saying, "I understand these principles, so I also know that many things cannot be rushed."
"Well, I've always been worried that you, brother, would see that the Song Dynasty has become powerful and suddenly decide to conquer a vast territory."
Zhao Jun was pleased that Zhao Zhen had self-awareness, but he was also afraid to discourage him, so he continued, "But don't worry too much, brother. The foundation of feudal society's rule is still productivity. As long as productivity increases and people can afford food and clothing, unrest will be much less, and resistance will be much less. The rest will naturally be the means of rule and education."
This is what happened in the Qing Dynasty. The Manchus only had a few people entering the country, but as long as they won and established the Qing Dynasty, and the Little Ice Age ended in the late Ming Dynasty, products such as sweet potatoes and potatoes were introduced, and productivity grew explosively, then the people had less motivation to rebel.
Although there were many rebellions during the Qing Dynasty, few of them shook their rule, and most of them were concentrated in the late Qing Dynasty. There were not many rebellions in the early and middle periods. This shows that if the Song Dynasty occupied that vast land, as long as it could provide sufficient productivity and support such a large population, then the foundation of its rule would still be very solid.
After that, all we need to do is complete education and ideological transformation, and reasonably build the surrounding ethnic groups into one of the Chinese nation, an indivisible family of fifty-six. Then, who knows, there will be great sages within those ethnic groups who will take the initiative to debate for the Han people and honestly make them become noble citizens of the Great Song Dynasty.
Just like the people of Goguryeo, Japan, and Silla, they all dreamed of becoming citizens of the Tang Dynasty.
A few people were walking and chatting, and soon they arrived at Xihua Gate. There was a small team waiting outside Xihua Gate. There were about two hundred of them, lined up in neat rows, fully armed, standing in place like a group of steel warriors.
Di Qing was riding on horseback. In places farther away, such as Qingtai Street, Xihuamen Street, and Qishengyuan Street, many people gathered nearby, commenting on the army standing outside Xihuamen.
"This is the army of our Great Song Dynasty. How majestic and powerful they are. So, what are they doing standing here?"
"You don't know yet, haven't you read the newspaper?"
"No, I went to work this morning and didn't have time to watch it."
"The Liao Kingdom is attacking Goryeo. The emperor wants to stand up for Goryeo and plans to send people to rescue them."
"Is there going to be another war?"
"What are you afraid of? Who dares to provoke the Song Dynasty now? Even the Liao Kingdom can only bully Goryeo."
"Indeed, with such a powerful army, our Song Dynasty is invincible."
The people talked about it.
This is the confidence that a strong army can bring to people.
In ancient times, the Han people were the most confident nation in the world, and they had the slogan "Whoever openly offends the mighty Han will be punished, even though he is far away."
It is far from being like some people in later generations who only believe that the moon in foreign countries is the roundest. Even if they cannot be reincarnated abroad, they will still risk their lives and being ridiculed by Mexicans to go to a foreign country to eat donuts.
Although this self-confidence was slightly crushed by the Song Dynasty, it was only at the official level. The pride of the people still existed and was far from declining.
Therefore, the people of the Song Dynasty have always been full of martial virtues, not afraid of enemies, and even less afraid of war.
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