"Who would have thought that this balance would be broken by the Liao people themselves? They themselves were corrupt and decadent, so military spending was wasted and the army's combat effectiveness was low. Even with firearms, it was no longer possible to suppress the various tribes in the northeast."
"And this creates a vicious cycle. The more you fail to suppress them, the more the northeastern tribes will sense your weakness and reduce their supplies as a test. The more they reduce their supplies, the weaker the Liao State becomes. The weaker it becomes, the less able it is to guarantee its military's combat effectiveness, and the less courage it will dare to resort to military action against the tribes. This cycle repeats itself, leading to the disastrous consequences we have today."
Everyone was talking about it and soon understood why the Liao Dynasty declined so quickly. In just over a decade, from a country that was once the world's number one, it was now defeated by a primitive tribe in the northeast. It was really a pity.
"What a shame."
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "I overestimated the Liao people's abilities. I thought they were on the verge of extinction and would at least work hard to govern. I didn't expect that the closer they got to extinction, the more they indulged in debauchery and frolicking."
"Yes, we still wanted to keep it as a source of raw materials. Who could have imagined that such a huge country like Liao would collapse overnight?"
Fan Zhongyan spread his hands and said.
"Hanlong, what should we do now? Should we watch the Liao Kingdom fall, or..."
Yan Shu raised a key question.
Zhao Jun fell into deep thought.
This really stumped him.
He always has strategic plans when making national deployments.
For example, between the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia, he destroyed the Western Xia because the Western Xia could communicate with the Hexi Corridor and deepen land trade with the West.
But there is not much benefit in destroying the Liao Dynasty, as the north is all Mongolian grasslands and the three northeastern provinces.
The three northeastern provinces became a treasure land in later generations. It was only after the people of the Ming and Qing Dynasties crossed the Guandong Pass and hundreds of years of reclamation that the vast three northeastern provinces were finally built.
At this time, the Liaoze Lake was still there, and a large area of the entire three northeastern provinces was swampland. Otherwise, the Jurchens would not have been a fishing and hunting tribe. If there were the Northeast Plain, they would have developed an agricultural civilization long ago.
So in fact, the Northeast is now a large swamp and forest, and it requires huge manpower and material resources to cultivate it. The center of the Liao Dynasty, from Zhongjing to Shangjing, is all grassland, which is not of great significance to agricultural civilization.
If land reclamation is to be carried out, at least a more advanced industrial civilization is needed to solve the flooding of the Liaohe River and deal with the problem of swamps in the Northeast through mechanization.
By then, the cost of governance will be astronomical.
Therefore, it was not that Zhao Jun did not want to recover the Northeast, but for the sake of national interests, he allowed the Liao Kingdom to exist first, let it become a resource-exporting country, and strengthen the industrialization process of the Song Dynasty.
When the Song Dynasty's industrial capacity is further improved and these problems can be solved in the future, it will be able to go directly north to destroy the Liao Dynasty and seize large tracts of territory.
Zhao Jun estimates that this process will take at most 20 to 30 years.
But the Liao Kingdom was not strong enough.
Even though this was actually within his expectations, he did not expect the Liao Kingdom to fall so quickly.
It would not be a good thing for the Song Dynasty to accept it at this time.
But allowing the Liao Dynasty to be destroyed and then the Jurchens to establish a Jin Dynasty in the north was also not a good thing.
Choosing the lesser of two evils is at least much better than the emergence of a new country.
"Honestly, I want to help Liao."
Zhao Jun smiled bitterly and said, "From the perspective of national justice in future generations, it must be recovered immediately. I have said before that I want China to be unified. But when I sit in this position, I have to consider national interests. National interests are paramount. Even if we let the Liao Kingdom exist for now and the Northeast is not recovered, it doesn't matter. What is best is to benefit the Han Chinese and the Chinese nation. What a pity!"
He shook his head as he said this.
There is not much point in helping the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom is corrupting too quickly. After we help it this time, I am afraid that more will come one after another, and it will never stop.
He hoped to keep the Liao Kingdom and gain benefits from it, rather than contribute manpower and effort to the Liao Kingdom.
Therefore, helping the Liao Kingdom was also a wrong option.
Generally speaking.
This is the current situation in the North.
There are no Han people there, so even if the land is taken, it cannot be used.
On the contrary, it would cause the Song Dynasty to have to spend a relatively large amount of money to govern, and there might even be a rebellion by the Jurchen tribes. It would take time and energy to quell the rebellion, which would be a thankless task.
But now the Liao Dynasty is about to collapse. Let's not talk about whether the Jin Dynasty established by the Jurchens will live in harmony with the Song Dynasty and continue to maintain the previous trade relations. Even if it does, it will not work.
The army of an emerging country has not yet become corrupt and its combat effectiveness is still relatively strong. Once they inherit the firearms of the Liao Kingdom, even if they are backward firearms, they may cause border friction and bring certain damage to the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, in order to prevent such a thing from happening, it would be better to strike first and nip the Jin Dynasty in the bud, allowing the Jurchen tribe to return to its tribal state and be brought under the rule of the Song Dynasty.
"You mean, send troops?"
Fan Zhongyan asked tentatively.
"Send out the troops."
Zhao Jun curled his lips and said, "Orders are issued. Deploy troops to the border and destroy both the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchens."
"What do you think?"
Fan Zhongyan looked at the other prime ministers again.
Zhao Jun could handle ordinary matters on his own, but sending troops required not only Zhao Zhen's approval, but also the approval of many prime ministers.
So everyone still needs to discuss it in detail. If everyone agrees, then the decision will basically be made by Zhao Zhen.
However, having said that, in reality, once everyone in the Council of Political System has made a decision, Zhao Zhen will not veto it. Therefore, to a certain extent, if all the prime ministers in the Council of Political System agree, it represents the will of the Song Empire.
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