Chapter 290 Just Give It a Try

In early August, the autumn wind blows in the northern part of the country.

The gentle north wind blew across the Great Plains of Jugans, across Lake Baikal from Orang to Lake Baikal, and through the Northwestern Daliao Road to the Xingqing Prefecture in Yinchuan.

On the vast plains, cattle and sheep can be seen on the wind-swept meadows, and groups of party members are driving their livestock toward Xiazhou in the southeast.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the water and grass are plentiful, which is the season when cattle and sheep gain weight. It is also the time when cattle and sheep are fattest and most valuable.

If in winter, cattle and sheep start to lose weight because there is less food, or if the weather is too cold and the livestock freeze to death, then they are worthless and no one will buy them.

Therefore, the herdsmen of Xingqing Prefecture will gradually start driving their cattle and sheep to the southeast during this month, and they will be able to reach the Song-Xia border by almost September.

Now people from the Song Dynasty are buying them at high prices on the border.

They would drive the live cattle and sheep back to Shaanxi Road, and then transport them to Bianliang via Yellow River boats. They would send the wool to the people of the Song Dynasty as clothing, and put the mutton and beef on the tables of the people of the Song Dynasty.

For the Song Dynasty, this was the best era.

After several years of rest and recuperation, taxes were reduced, corvees were lightened, prices were stable, wages were stable, living conditions became better and better, and the types of goods on the market became more abundant.

For Xixia and Liao people, the current time is also the best time.

Under peaceful development, the two sides trade with each other.

The Xixia and Liao people sold their cattle and sheep, and also purchased a lot of grain, tea, pots and pans, and even books and handicrafts from the Song Dynasty to enrich their lives.

Everything was going in a good direction until one day the building collapsed.

In the Xixia Kingdom of Xingqing Prefecture, Li Yuanhao proclaimed himself king because of his defeat. He wore royal clothes and stood outside the palace looking into the east.

Although he can be shameless and call himself a king externally, while continuing to be an emperor internally.

But everyone has a face.

Li Yuanhao didn't want to be treated as a joke in private because of his unfair reputation and unreasonable remarks.

So he simply became the king of the Xixia people, ruled the land in the name of the king, and led the people to move forward.

Since the defeat, Li Yuanhao was also unwilling to accept the decline of Xixia. While maintaining trade with the Song Dynasty, he also actively attacked the Western Regions, surrendered many Western Uighurs, and connected the Silk Road.

In this way, merchants from the Western Regions would return to the Hexi Corridor if they did not want to take a long way to the Hehuang Corridor. Xixia bought the goods from merchants in the Western Regions and sold them to the Song Dynasty.

In this East Asian trade, the Liao people still needed to produce their own products for export, but they started working as middlemen and also made a lot of money.

Everyone makes money, so who loses?

Except for those in Qingtang who were robbed of some of the interests of Western Region merchants by Xixia, no one actually suffered any loss.

Because Xixia and Liao were also selling their own domestic handicraft manufacturing products to Song, both sides had demand for each other's goods.

The only difference is that the Song Dynasty purchased slightly more raw materials than other countries.

Generally speaking, unless one of the three countries suddenly becomes an industrial country, it will use the strong productivity of the industrial country to engage in a commodity dumping war and empty out the gold, silver and copper mines of the other two countries.

Otherwise, in this era of agricultural country, there would not be overwhelming business competition.

Xixia was a small country with rapid economic development and controlled the Hexi Corridor. It also recovered the fastest under the comprehensive liberalization of mutual trade controls by the Song, Xia and Liao Kingdoms.

In addition, Li Yuanhao continued to develop agriculture in the Yinchuan Plain. During the truce period, he mobilized the people and soldiers to dig a large number of canals on both sides of the Yellow River and introduce rice and wheat from Champa.

For a time, Xixia made great achievements both in economy and agriculture.

The only thing that lags behind is the military.

In recent years, the Song Dynasty has been developing firearms, the Liao Kingdom is developing firearms, and Xixia is also making progress.

There is no military competition, but the Song and Liao countries have this thing, and they cannot live without it, otherwise they will be passive.

But the problem is that the Liao Kingdom was able to purchase sulfur in large quantities from Song merchants, but it was difficult for Xixia to do so.

The Liao State had the Bohai Bay. After Song merchants purchased sulfur from Japan, they then sailed the ship into the Bohai Bay, allowing them to seamlessly engage in middleman transactions.

Xixia is a landlocked country with no ports. If you want to buy sulfur, you need to cross Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi to transport it.

Although in theory there is direct access to the Yellow River, the problem is that the cost of traveling upstream of the Yellow River is too high, and Xixia cannot afford it.

Therefore, they could only buy a small amount of sulfur excavated from Sichuan and other places at a high price, or buy some raw materials from Liao, a three-way dealer, bought from Japan by Song merchants and sold to Liao.

Even if the Liao Kingdom gave them the gunpowder formula, they could not produce it on a large scale, and there were only a very few reserves at present, which made Li Yuanhao worried and felt a sense of desolation.

At this moment, he stood at the palace at the foot of Helan Mountain and looked east. What he could see was countless cattle and sheep spread out like dense clouds on the vast grassland.

The herdsmen drive them, and the entire grassland is full of vitality.

"The king has worked hard to govern, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and our country, Daxia, is prosperous, all because of the king's wisdom."

Minister Yang Su said flatteringly.

"There are herds of cattle and sheep at the foot of the mountain. My Daxia has not only restored its former scenery, but has even improved it to a higher level."

"If things continue like this, the king will dominate the northwest and dominate the world. It will be just around the corner."

"This is all the result of the King's many years of wisdom and prowess."

Several civil servants also boasted.

He wears a lot of clothes, but horses don't wear them. Li Yuanhao is jealous, so it's not a bad thing to brag about him.

It's also ironic to say.

In history, Li Yuanhao won the war, but because the Song Dynasty cut off the trade, the people's livelihood in the country was in decline, and the people were living in poverty. Even the Tanguts almost rebelled and pulled him down.

As a result, now because of the defeat, the country has signed a free trade agreement with the Song Dynasty, and its national strength has developed, which is stronger than before the war.

This is certainly because Xixia is across the Hexi Corridor and controls the "Land Silk Road", a major transportation route.

But the fundamental reason is that the Song Dynasty did not continue to cut off trade with him because of the defeat?

So sometimes fate is like this, unpredictable.

But Li Yuanhao was not satisfied with this.

His lifelong wish is to be an emperor. Even if the country is strong, how can it compare with his ambition?

So when he heard the flattery of the crowd, Li Yuanhao just said lightly: "No matter how strong the country is, it is still not as strong as the Song Dynasty. I am very worried."

"Your Majesty."

Zhang Yuan next to him immediately said: "The words of the Liao envoy may be reasonable."

Just now they met the Liao envoy in the hall.

But Li Yuanhao did not express his opinion at that time. At this time, the Liao envoys had been sent down to rest. The group did not discuss in the hall, but walked outside the hall.

It was already evening, the setting sun, and the gorgeous fire clouds seemed to cover the entire western sky, weaving a sky full of colorful clouds.

Li Yuanhao put his hands behind his back, looked into the distance and said: "Yelü Zong really wants to use me as a vanguard."

"Liao does not dare to go to war with Song easily, so it can only find a way to test it."

Zhang Yuan analyzed: "Give us some benefits, let us attack Qingtang, and see the reaction of Song. Maybe it is the best way."

"Hehe."

Li Yuanhao sneered: "If he wants to test it, why doesn't he go to Goryeo? Goryeo is a vassal of Liao and Song. Isn't this the best excuse?"

"In the final analysis, it is because Liao is strong and my Great Xia cannot compete with it, so it oppresses us."

Yeli Yuqi shouted.

At this time in history, his ashes would have been cold, but now after the truce, Zhong Shiheng did not try every means to set up a counter-espionage plan, and the Yeli brothers were not killed, which can be regarded as changing history again.

"But this is indeed a good way to test the Song Dynasty, and this plan is feasible and can be retreated."

Zhang Yuan said: "We are enemies with Qingtang. We signed the Xia-Song Agreement with the Song Dynasty, which does not include Qingtang. Your Majesty's attack on Qingtang is justified, and even if you cannot defeat it afterwards, you can retreat calmly."

"Your Majesty, I think this matter still needs to be cautious. Even the Liao people dare not provoke a war without authorization. We are far behind the Liao Kingdom in national strength, and we should not go to war with the Song Dynasty again."

Yeli Wangrong was relatively rational and advised: "If the Song people use this to invade our Great Xia, I am afraid that the Liao Kingdom may not necessarily come to help."

"Heh, the Song is getting stronger, and the Liao is getting more and more uneasy. How could they not come to rescue?"

Zhang Yuan retorted: "Besides, the general said he was going to lose before the battle even started. This is probably not the responsibility of a general."

"Humph!"

Yeli Wangrong snorted coldly: "You Han people are cunning. Are you trying to drag us to Daxia to die?"

Zhang Yuan said: "Now is the time when the Song army is in chaos. Think about it, if we don't try it now while they are in chaos, then when the Song people quell the civil strife and reorganize the army in the future, will we still have a way to survive?"

"You!"

Yeli Wangrong frowned. He was a little bit unable to argue with Zhang Yuan.

"Okay."

Li Yuanhao glanced at the two of them.

The situation in Xixia and Liao was the opposite.

In Liao, many Khitan nobles clamored to teach the Song a lesson and became the main war faction. The civil officials and Han people were relatively calm, looking at the problem objectively, and advised Yelu Zongzhen to be careful.

On the Xixia side, Zhang Yuan and other civil officials advocated war and had always hoped to unite with the Liao Kingdom to attack the Song Dynasty.

On the contrary, the Tangut nobles below had been psychologically traumatized by the Song people's firearms in the previous Song-Xia war, and had always been more anti-war and hoped to live in peace with the Song Dynasty.

This was related to the national strength and historical status of the two countries.

The Liao Kingdom had always been superior to the Song Dynasty, and the Khitan nobles were used to showing off their power over the Song Dynasty. As a result, the Song Dynasty suddenly became powerful, which they naturally found difficult to accept.

The Xixia had always been a vassal of the Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty, and the Tanguts had regarded the Liao and Song Dynasties as their suzerains for several generations and were conferred titles by both countries at the same time.

Therefore, the Tangut nobles were far from being as high-handed as the Khitan nobles and could not get their minds right.

So this was the difference.

As for Zhang Yuan, he naturally did not give up. He wanted to retaliate against the Song Dynasty and definitely wanted to provoke a war.

So in general, the pro-war forces in the Liao Kingdom were actually stronger, but they were temporarily intimidated by the calm Yelu Zongzhen.

What did Li Yuanhao think?

He wanted to fight.

I dream of defeating the Song Dynasty.

And now, it may be the last chance.

With the national strength of Xixia, the economy and people's livelihood can catch up, but can firearms catch up?

Once the military power lags behind, it will lag behind step by step.

In the end, Xixia will be annexed by the Song Dynasty!

Li Yuanhao looked up at the sky in the distance and muttered to himself: "Yes, if we don't fight again, when the Song people have reorganized their army and trained a group of elites, my Daxia will always be trampled under their feet."

"Your Majesty!"

Yeli Wangrong opened his eyes wide.

"Okay."

Li Yuanhao said calmly: "No need to say, I have made up my mind. Go and tell the envoy that I agree to the conditions of the Liao Emperor!"

He waved his hand, his cape fluttered behind him, and he turned around and left to the right side of the hall.

Zhang Yuan was overjoyed and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty is wise!"

He raised his head and looked towards the distant east, with deep hatred in his eyes.

The Song people bullied him too much, and he would not be a man if he did not take revenge.

Now is the last chance.

Since the Liao Kingdom has shown goodwill and provided them with a large number of firearms and other material support, why don't they have the courage to fight!

Yelu Zongzhen asked them to give it a try, so let's give it a try!

I have been a little sick these two days. Generally, if I update at night, it means that I worked hard all day during the day, and there is only one chapter. If I update in the morning, it means that I worked overtime, so there must be another chapter in the evening. This chapter is updated during the day and there is another chapter in the evening.