Chapter 304 Various attempts
The twenty-first year of Li Yuan.

When the Southeast Asian countries paid tribute to the Song Dynasty, they were actually seeking trade with the Song Dynasty when the Song Dynasty was the rich one.

to be frank!
Zhao Xin had also thought about catching them all in one fell swoop and taking all their land into his own hands.

only……

The Central Plains has always been a place where reason and civilization are valued.

If there hadn’t been any conflict, it would have been difficult for him to just hit the other person.

Moreover, your name is not right and your words are not legitimate, so even if you conquer the enemy’s territory, it will be difficult for you to rule.

After sending away all the envoys, Zhao Xin asked Crown Prince Zhao Zhe: “Do you have any opinions?”

Zhao Zhe looked at his father from the side…

What does he think about this?

Just as he was thinking about how to answer, he saw his father casually pulled out a piece of paper, hung it on the screen, and drew a world map.

The approximate locations of various countries are marked on it.

A map of Southeast Asian countries also suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.

He immediately thought of how to answer, and replied: “Dad wants to incorporate them all into the territory of the Song Dynasty?”

Zhao Xin also replied: “I heard that people outside say that I am obsessed with expanding territory. Is that true?”

Zhao Zhe said, “Indeed, there is.”

Zhao Xin said, “Actually, I also want to be quiet and do nothing.”

“It’s just that… this great situation is right in front of you and me. If we don’t take advantage of it and do something, our descendants, and even the entire Han people, will say that our ancestors didn’t take such a good piece of land.”

“You know… things change over time. Don’t underestimate the present Song Dynasty. In fact, what if there are another thirty or three hundred years?”

“If things go wrong, there will be another grassland nation in our north, riding on our heads again.”

“However, compared to the grassland people, I am more worried about the forces in the west.”

“It would be great if we could bring the whole world under the territory of the Song Dynasty and allow the Han people to flourish in all these places.”

“Because in the future, someone like your father and I will come from the West and beat all of you brothers.”

Zhao Zhe also said: “Dad, is the West you mentioned really that powerful?”

“And… Daddy, how do you know they are so powerful?”

Zhao Xin said, “Since ancient times, the noble families and scholars in the Central Plains have focused too much on the history of the Central Plains, but few have paid attention to the history of the outside world.”

“The Qin Dynasty during the Han Dynasty and the Arabs during the Tang Dynasty were relatively powerful countries in the West.”

“In the past, the Central Plains had no chance to contact them because we were indeed too far away from them.”

“But times are changing, especially this year, the number of sea vessels in the southeast of our Great Song has exceeded 70,000.”

“In the future, the benefits of the ocean will surely be greater than those of the land.”

“And where there are interests, there will be wars.”

“If we want to stand at the top of this world, we must have a mindset and vision that surpasses that of ordinary people.”

“You can’t wait for the ministers to report what happened before you solve it.”

“Instead, you should measure your own abilities and control the disaster in your own hands before it happens.”

“With the peaceful development over the years, you can see that the population of the grasslands has definitely increased a lot.”

“Then are you going to wait until there are more and more people on the grassland, and they are increasingly hungry, and even have to invade the south, before you solve the problem?”

“Your father is now thinking about how to consume their population.”

“So that they won’t become a threat to our north in the future.”

“Although, it is inappropriate to have such thoughts.”

“After all, they are still the people of our Song Dynasty and China.”

“But the problem is… this world is so cruel.”

“The main thing is that everything in this world is limited.”

“When some people have nothing and others have a lot, that’s when the dispute begins.”

“The current situation is that we have a lot in the Song Dynasty, but there are none in the West.”

“Do you want to wait until the West learns our technology, such as muskets, cannons, and shipbuilding, before fighting them?”

“When you think about it from this perspective, it’s not hard to understand why your father and I are so anxious, and why your father and I want to conquer more land.”

“We just hope that when our technology has an advantage, we can eliminate all threats in the bud as much as possible.”

“It’s actually the same in Korea and Japan.”

“Why do I want to fight them? I just don’t want them to be able to fight back against us one day.”

“When you have the power to crush the whole world, but you don’t use it and maximize your own interests, it is actually an extremely stupid behavior.”

“They naturally cannot understand why I am so crazy about expanding my territory, because they don’t know that peace in this world can only be achieved through war.”

“You don’t fight, and you even expose your technology to others, just like the Xiongnu and Khitan people back then. Their armor was not that good.”

“During the Han Dynasty, one Han defeated five Hu because the Han people had excellent armor, while the Hu people did not.”

“Then in the Tang Dynasty, a large amount of technology flowed out due to wars and other reasons.”

“When we get to the Song Dynasty, you see, even Xixia’s armor is better than ours.”

“At this point, the Song Dynasty is no different from the Western Xia and Liao peoples.”

“Even in wars, we lose more often than not.”

“It was not until your father developed the musket that we were able to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and Xixia by relying on technological superiority.”

“In fact… compared to those famous generals in ancient times, your father is far inferior to me.”

“People like Han Xin and Li Jing are truly outstanding in strategy.”

“And I, your father, only rely on the strength of the weapon.”

“And things like powerful tools are also the easiest to be surpassed.”

“After all, who can’t make a musket after seeing it?”

“Even if there’s no machine tool, I can still hammer it out for you.”

“Therefore, Zhe’er, you should understand what your father and I are afraid of.”

“And Westerners happen to have the research and development conditions that are not inferior to ours.”

“The Tubo people must have learned chain mail from the Western Regions. Even in the Tang Dynasty classics, it is said that the Tubo chain mail was made very well.”

“In the end, the Tang Dynasty had to develop long and thin arrows specifically to fight against Tubo.”

“This also proves that they possess a civilization and technology that is in no way inferior to ours.”

“Once such a country learns our muskets and artillery, they can equip them in a short period of time.”

“By the time……”

“Actually… what I fear the most are you, my descendants.”

“I certainly know that once I take a break, the West will have time and a chance to catch up.”

“And you may not know.”

“You may eat, drink and have fun happily for twenty, thirty years, or even a lifetime.”

“But I can use this time to catch up with you.”

“Once you catch up with them, what can you use to fight them?”

“Besides, by that time, the court would have been corrupted by your eating, drinking and having fun.”

“Many countries and dynasties actually disappeared just like that.”

“When the Khitans first became wealthy, they were not strong either.”

“Why has it developed to this point?”

“Because they not only plundered the technology of the Han people, but also learned and absorbed the court system from them.”

“That’s why it was so difficult for the Song Dynasty to defeat the Liao Kingdom.” “Because the enemy was no longer the loose tribe on the grassland.”

“It’s an organized court.”

“Once this court clearly distinguishes between rewards and punishments, the system will ensure that as long as you win the battle, you will be promoted.”

“Then the people under your command will become even more courageous in killing the enemy.”

“In fact… the reason why the Liao Dynasty was so strong and was able to form the Northern and Southern Dynasties with the Song Dynasty was because they absorbed and learned a lot of the technology and systems of the Central Plains.”

“And we should learn from this lesson.”

“Try not to give our opponents any opportunity to learn as much as possible.”

“Why do you say ‘as much as possible’?”

“Because some things can’t be done recklessly.”

“In short…if you want to be the one who controls this world, you have to know these things well.”

……

After saying this to Zhao Zhe.

Next…

Zhao Xin asked Zhao Zhe to recruit talents. Next, the Song Dynasty needed to gain deeper control over Southeast Asia.

And as soon as they find an opportunity, they will send troops to attack the enemy.

If the Han people did not go out, there would certainly be no chance to attack the other side.

Only if they went out and had a dispute between the two sides, for example, the other side killed one of their Han people, would Zhao Xin have an excuse to attack the other side.

How can the Strait of Malacca, such a great place, be monopolized by just one country, Srivijaya?

Zhao Xin felt that it would be best to keep such a good place in his own hands.

As for the Chola Kingdom…

Zhao Xin felt that if there was a chance, he would have to occupy a piece of land.

At worst, setting up a concession or an embassy would be good too.

At least someone should be sent to keep abreast of the local situation.

If you don’t even understand the local situation, how can you find an excuse to uphold justice or even be the world’s policeman?

As for the grasslands in the north…

It depends on the situation.

In fact…

There must be some poor herdsmen in the grasslands to the north.

If any of them are willing to go out to sea, Zhao Xin can use them as thugs.

soon……

Zhao Xin then sent someone to find Su Shi, and then asked Su Shi to inspect the Zubu tribe, the Ugundilie tribe and other places.

Then we gave them relevant suggestions.

Put up a recruitment sign.

Things like land development in Southeast Asia, maintaining public order, and doing business overseas all require people.

As for whether you can adapt to the climate…

It doesn’t really matter.

Anyway…

If you die, you will die.

It is used as a cheap consumable.

In fact, if they were more ruthless, they could just sell them like pigs. It was only because Zhao Xin was kind-hearted that he did not do that.

After Su Shi’s visit and investigation.

The data reported back to Zhao Xin at the end of the year showed that there were still people, but not many, only about a few dozen.

after all……

People have an inertia of not being willing to change their living environment.

Among these dozens of people, half were introduced by Su Shi through his personal connections.

As for the remaining half…

That is a person with a strong adventurous spirit. Such a person is born to yearn for the outside world.

When I heard about this opportunity, I decided to give it a try since there was no point in staying at home anyway.

the second year.

These dozens of people were taken to Youzhou City.

Zhao Xin also met with them in person and asked them what they wanted to do.

The options are:

First, go to Ryukyu as a security guard, protect the people and cultivate their land, and earn fifty kan a year.

Secondly, you can also become a pioneer. Now that Ryukyu has been almost fully developed, the next step is to go to Xiaosong Island, an island south of Ryukyu. The annual salary is also 50 guan, but depending on the efficiency of the development, the price may increase.

Third, go to various islands in Southeast Asia, station there, become a foreign clerk of the Song Dynasty, understand and report local intelligence in a timely manner. Of course! This is mainly responsible for security work, because the real foreign clerks are definitely mainly officials and literati of the Song Dynasty.

Then everyone claimed their positions one after another.

There is not a single one that was chosen for the new development.

However, the ratio between Ryukyu and the Southeast Asian islands is about half and half.

After everything was confirmed, Zhao Xin paid them their wages on the spot.

Immediately afterwards…

Then let Zhao Zhe make the arrangements.

in fact……

If you must say so, fifty strings of cash a year is not as good as herding sheep on the grassland.

Because although the price of sheep on the grassland is very cheap, only about 500 coins per sheep, then if you release 100 of them, there should be no problem!

but……

how to say!

Some herdsmen may only have two or three hundred sheep at home.

Even if one hundred and fifty chicks are born in a year, if there is some disaster, it is hard to say that they are doing well.

Not to mention, a family may only have so many people. If there are many brothers in the family, it would be better for them to go out to work.

therefore……

The annual income of fifty strings of cash is actually quite acceptable for an ordinary herdsman.

At least……

It is equivalent to raising a hundred sheep in your hometown.

Soon, two months later.

These people began to take up their posts one after another.

Zhao Xin also ordered people to keep an eye on them at all times.

If only it were done!
In the future, it can be promoted on the grasslands to attract more people to go to Ryukyu and Southeast Asia.

of course!

This is mainly useful for those who are truly poor and have nowhere else to go.

If there is really a way out, it is of course better to stay in the grassland, in your hometown.

(End of this chapter)