When the Song Dynasty was mentioned, everyone in the room fell silent.
The Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Dynasty in February this year.
Since private trade between Song and Japan was developed, the news naturally spread to Japan.
They were also terrified to learn that the once-mighty Liao Kingdom was almost destroyed by the Song Dynasty.
Others may not know what this means, but how could they, as the top leaders in Japan, not know?
The Tang Dynasty was once the most powerful empire in their knowledge. Since the Nara period, Japan has maintained humility and respect towards the Tang Dynasty.
However, after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the establishment of the Song Dynasty caused the attitude of the Japanese upper class towards the Song Dynasty to take a sharp turn for the worse. Not only did they close their doors to the outside world and stop sending envoys to the Tang Dynasty, they also refused to have normal state exchanges.
The reason for this lies in the Japanese people's inherent tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong. When you are strong, they will be respectful to you, but when you are weak, they will sneer at you.
For example, during the Tang Dynasty, during the first Sino-Japanese war, the Battle of Baekgang, 40,000 Japanese pirates were defeated by 10,000 Tang soldiers. From then on, Japan was completely subservient to the Tang Dynasty and never dared to offend again.
By the time the Song Dynasty was established, the Khitan had won a great victory in the Battle of Gaoliang River, causing the Song Dynasty's prestige in neighboring countries to plummet.
Many countries, including Goryeo, gradually severed ties with the Song Dynasty and switched allegiance to the Liao Kingdom. Even the tiny Vietnamese Ly Dynasty dared to repeatedly violate its borders, let alone the isolated Japan.
Therefore, Japan's attitude towards the Song Dynasty became cold. Although it did not dare to actively provoke the Song Dynasty due to its own weak national strength, it no longer had the awe it once had.
However, the Song Dynasty's victory over the Liao Dynasty meant that the Song Dynasty had truly risen and restored its status as the most powerful country in the world, just like the Han and Tang Dynasties.
This naturally frightened the Japanese top leaders.
In fact, a few months ago, Emperor Go-Reizei had discussed with Fujiwara no Yorimichi and others whether to send envoys to the Song Dynasty to express congratulations.
However, Japan always felt offended by the Song Dynasty's stationing of troops on Tsushima Island, so the matter was left unresolved.
After all, in the eyes of the Japanese high-ranking officials, Tsushima Island is their territory. The Song Dynasty stationing troops on the island is tantamount to invasion.
If it weren't for the powerful navy of the Song Dynasty, which came to stroll around from time to time, and if the situation in their own country was not good, they would have turned against the Song Dynasty long ago, and naturally would not have given the Song Dynasty any good face.
Now that Fujiwara no Yorimichi mentioned the Song Dynasty again, everyone's face looked unhappy.
Even though the Song Dynasty was separated from them by the ocean, no one would feel comfortable having a powerful neighbor, and a neighbor with whom they had a relatively bad relationship.
"What does this have to do with the Song State?"
Fujiwara no Kyoumichi frowned when he heard his brother's words and asked, "Could it be that the Song Kingdom is behind this?"
After he said this, everyone except Fujiwara no Yorimichi frowned.
If it was really the State of Song that supported the rebellion of local forces, the situation would be different.
This would pose a serious threat to the emperor's rule.
However, Fujiwara no Yorimichi shook his head and said, "Yes and no."
"Forehead"
Several people looked at each other, not understanding what Fujiwara no Yorimichi meant.
Emperor Go-Reizei asked, "What does the Great Grand Master mean?"
Fujiwara no Yorimichi said: "The Abe clan's growing power is due to the Song Dynasty, but it is not necessarily the people of the Song Dynasty who are behind it."
Seeing everyone's puzzled expressions, he explained, "As you all know, Mutsu is rich in gold. There is the Hiraizumi gold mine. A few years ago, gold mines were also discovered in the Sado area of Echigo Province."
"What the Grand Secretary is saying is that these local nobles purchased weapons and armor from the Song people?"
Emperor Go-Reizei immediately understood what he meant.
"good."
Fujiwara no Yorimichi nodded and said, "The Song people sold them a large amount of weapons and armor, which gave them the confidence to rebel."
Emperor Go-Reizei was a little panicked now.
Although Japan has abundant materials such as gold, silver, copper, and sulfur, it is actually an island country after all, and is very short of resources and technology.
In the late Heian period in 1047 AD, although Japan was in the Iron Age, due to geological and geographical problems, they were unable to obtain high-temperature fuel.
Therefore, for a long time, they could only use charcoal to smelt iron. As a result, the furnace temperature at that time could only reach about 1150 degrees Celsius, far from the melting point of pure iron at 1535 degrees Celsius.
Although the melting point of ore containing impurities is much lower than that of pure iron, it is still difficult for iron ore to melt completely at such a low temperature.
This resulted in Japanese ironware containing a lot of impurities, requiring blacksmiths to repeatedly hammer and forge it to create steel.
Handcrafting requires the blacksmith to have extremely advanced skills and experience.
As a result, the few craftsmen and workshops that were good at making weapons and armor were concentrated in cities and were closely monitored by local rulers.
As a result, the amount of steel in Japan at that time was extremely low, and only high-ranking generals could own steel swords and armor.
Ordinary soldiers or armed groups without the support of a large force only have a very small number of low-quality iron swords, and most of them use sticks, wooden clubs and the like as weapons.
During the Heian period, most skilled craftsmen were concentrated in Heian-kyo, which was the basis for the emperor and the regent family to control Japan.
The imperial army not only had a righteous cause, but also had a large number of troops and relatively advanced weapons and equipment. It was more than enough to deal with those local nobles who didn't even have many iron swords.
However, if a local tyrant not only has thousands of soldiers but also has quite elite equipment, it will be a great threat to the emperor's rule.
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