It’s not that the internal support was incompetent, but that the Song army’s military bases were all built in safe havens. Safe havens are often concave harbors with hills and mountains on both sides. The Song army surrounded the mountains and did not allow anyone to go up.
In this way, it would be difficult for an insider to judge the strength of the navy by standing on the top of a mountain, looking at the military base and counting the ships inside.
However, looking at the Song Dynasty army, the navy was basically dispensable. The Liao people had never seen what the Song Dynasty navy looked like, so they subconsciously did not take it seriously.
But now that Zhang Jian brought it up, Yelu Zongzhen began to consider it seriously.
"Even if the Song army has a navy, if the artillery is deployed on the top of a mountain, it can often reach dozens of miles away. The higher the mountain, the longer the range. Perhaps we can place some artillery on the top of a mountain by the sea to deal with it."
Yelu Zongzhen said.
Zhang Jian smiled bitterly and said, "Laizhou, Pingzhou, and Xijin have a coastline of nearly seven or eight hundred miles. I'm afraid even if we use all our artillery, we might not be able to suffice."
Yelu Zongzhen smiled and said, "These places are often vast and sparsely populated. By then, they will have fortified their defenses and cleared the countryside. I don't believe the Song Kingdom will really send so many people here. At most, they will just be a small harassing force. Grand Master, you are worrying too much."
"I hope I'm overthinking it."
Zhang Jian shook his head.
He always felt that the mysterious Song Dynasty Navy would become a huge hidden danger for them.
But there is nothing we can do now.
After the meeting, Yelu Zongzhen went to deploy defenses in person.
He made full preparations for this trip south. In order to prevent being discovered by the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom pretended that a large number of troops were sent to Tokyo Liaoyang Prefecture, but in fact it was just a feint.
The main force quietly moved south in batches. At this time, Nanjing of the Liao Kingdom already had more than 200,000 troops, and the number was even continuing to increase.
And it's not just Nanjing. Two years ago, Yelu Zongzhen established the Xijing Road with Datong Prefecture as its seat of government, and deployed more than 100,000 troops on the border. It can be said that most of the Liao Kingdom's military forces have appeared on the Song-Liao border.
Just as Yelu Zongzhen was arranging his troops and preparing to resist the invading Song army.
At this moment in Dengzhou, east of Jingdong Road in the State of Song, the whistling sea breeze made the flags on the boat masts flutter.
In the safe harbor surrounded by mountains, dozens of huge ships raised their sails.
Countless sailors in the cabin stepped hard on the iron stirrups, and the sound of iron chains rattling made a sound. Driven by human power, the wheels on both sides of the ship began to roll slowly, driving the ship forward.
The principle of this method of sailing is similar to that of a bicycle, but in ancient times, steel technology was underdeveloped, and it was difficult to make iron chains that could withstand such a large force. It was also not technically easy to implement.
However, the Song Dynasty was already in the early stages of the first industrial revolution, and steel production had increased dramatically, so it was naturally able to do this.
In other words, the Liao Dynasty was lucky to have chosen a time when steam power was just beginning to be used, rather than becoming widespread. Otherwise, it would not be dozens of wooden ocean-going sailing ships that would have sailed, but ironclad warships.
(End of this chapter)
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