kingnovel Chapter 458: Robbery of Annual Tribute
Chapter 458: Robbery of Annual Tribute
After arriving in Beijing, Lu Cheng first inspected the border troops of the Song Dynasty and learned in detail about the troop deployment, the actual number of troops, the situation of the commanders of the local troops, etc. He first collected detailed intelligence on the border troops of the Song Dynasty.
This work took more than a month, and finally a lot of useful information was sorted out and divided into two copies. One copy was prepared to be presented to Song Huizong after returning to the capital, and the other was sent to Yang Zhi and others.
Afterwards, Lu Cheng temporarily left the patrol team, took Lu Fang, and reunited with Hua Rong, Pang Wanchun, Yuan Lang and others, and came to a mountain stronghold.
When they saw the army training in the mountain stronghold, they were all shocked. They did not expect that Lu Cheng, a court official, actually raised so many soldiers in private.
Lu Cheng led everyone into the mountain stronghold, and Yang Zhi reported to Lu Cheng on the current development of the mountain stronghold.
"Master, we currently have six large strongholds and eight small strongholds in Yanshan Prefecture and Yunzhong Prefecture, with a total of more than 8,600 soldiers and horses, 2,400 war horses, swords, spears, bows and arrows..."
After Yang Zhi finished reporting on the military situation, the iron-faced Pei Xuan stepped forward to report on the situation of money, food and supplies.
Upon hearing that there were many such strongholds and that the total military force was close to 10,000 people, Pang Wanchun and others were even more surprised.
Several people looked at each other, and the same thought came to their minds at the same time: Could this be a rebellion?
Then, everyone looked at Lu Cheng, but they only saw Lu Cheng smile slightly: "What? Do you have anything to say?"
Yuan Lang said directly: "Master, you have so many soldiers and horses on this northern border. Do you want to rebel against the Song Dynasty?"
"What do you think?"
Pang Wanchun bowed to Lu Cheng and said, "The Song Dynasty government is so incompetent and the people are living in misery. They should have rebelled long ago. If the owner of the manor wants to start a rebellion, Pang Wanchun is willing to be the vanguard."
Lu Fang also said: "The owner of the manor taught me martial arts and treated me, Lu Fang, with great kindness. Lu Fang swears to follow him until death."
Lu Cheng laughed: "Don't worry, even if we want to rebel, it's not the time now. With the current number of troops, it won't cause much trouble. Shi Jin, bring the map."
"Yes!"
Then, Shi Jin took out a huge map and hung it on a screen in front of him.
Lu Cheng picked up a short stick and pointed to the north of the map: "Now, the Liao Kingdom in the north is in decline, and the Jurchen tribe here is rising. With only 10,000 people, they defeated the Liao Kingdom without any chance to fight back. Facing such a Liao Kingdom, the Song Dynasty has to pay tribute every year. I once suggested to Zhao Ji that he should order the training of new troops and wait for an opportunity to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.
But Zhao Ji was used to a comfortable life and would rather exploit the people and pay tribute to the Liao Kingdom every year than start a war again. Since the Song Dynasty was unwilling to recover the lost territory, Lu led his men to recover it.
Look here, the war between Liao and Jurchen was basically concentrated here. In the future, the Jurchens will inevitably expand westward. To the south is Liao's Dongjing Road, to the north is the Jurchens' territory, to the south is the sea, and across the sea from the Yanshanfu Road and Jingdong East Road of the Song Dynasty, trade can be carried out through merchant ships, and naturally supplies can also be transported.
As long as we occupy this area and temporarily block the attacks of the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchen tribe, we can develop steadily. The Jurchen tribe will be too busy to take care of it in the short term and will not split its troops. The Liao Kingdom is busy fighting the Jurchens and also has to guard against the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia, so naturally it can't take care of it..."
What Lu Cheng was talking about was the Liao Province Peninsula in later generations, which was also the place where Lu Cheng started in the world of "The Blade of the Assassin".
As Lu Cheng finished speaking, everyone's blood boiled and they began to get excited.
Everyone in the room had good martial arts skills, and naturally they were eager to make achievements with their martial arts skills. If they could expand the territory, occupy a piece of land, or even establish a country, they would all be founding heroes.
Moreover, through Lu Cheng's analysis, they felt that the situation in the north was very clear and highly feasible.
What Lu Cheng said next made them even more excited.
"In half a month, the annual tribute from the Song Dynasty to the Liao Kingdom will enter the Liao Kingdom through the Yunzhongfu Road. At that time, I will take you to the grassland and bring back the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and property to provide a foundation for our further development. As long as we have money and food, we can continue to recruit soldiers and buy horses.
Thinking back to the time when the Liao Marshal dispatched 80,000 troops, I was able to come and go freely. This time, I robbed his annual tribute with ease."
After hearing this, everyone had no doubts about Lu Cheng's words. The longer they were in contact with Lu Cheng, the more they could feel that Lu Cheng was unfathomable.
After the mobilization, Lu Cheng immediately asked Yang Zhi, Shi Jin, Lu Da, Yuan Lang and others to go to various mountain strongholds to select elite cavalry and infantry to form a team of 3000 people to prepare to go north to the grassland.
Half a month later, at the northern border of the Liao Kingdom, the Song Dynasty's team transporting the annual tribute successfully handed over this year's annual tribute to the Liao Kingdom's troops and then returned to the country.
The Liao Kingdom sent 5,000 soldiers to welcome this annual tribute.
At the beginning, when the Treaty of Chanyuan was just signed, the Song Dynasty gave the Liao Kingdom 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 pieces of silk every year. During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, the Qingli Period saw an increase in the amount of money, with an additional 100,000 taels of silver and 100,000 pieces of silk donated each year, bringing the annual tribute to 500,000.
Moreover, the Song Dynasty not only had to pay annual tribute to the Liao Kingdom, but also to the Western Xia. The only difference was that the amount sent to the Western Xia was halved to 250,000.
It seemed that these treasures were used to buy peace to the Song Dynasty, but the annual tribute was also a considerable burden for the Song Dynasty.
You know, when the Song Dynasty was first established, Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin once made a budget that if 200 million pieces of silk could be saved in the national treasury, it would be enough to launch a war against the north and retake the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.
With the annual tributes paid by the Song Dynasty over the past hundred years, it is hard to tell how many wars could have been launched.
Seeing that the Liao army was accepting the annual tribute and transporting it to the north, a small group of scouts who had been following the army hurriedly released falcons to send a signal to the army hidden in the distance.
Less than half an hour later, Lu Cheng, with his generals and more than a thousand cavalrymen, arrived behind the Liao army's transport team.
In the afternoon, the Liao soldiers, who had been traveling for half a day, had just eaten and drunk their fill and were taking a rest when a group of cavalry suddenly rushed out.
Lu Cheng rushed forward with a spear in hand, followed closely by Hua Rong, Pang Wanchun, Shi Jin, Yang Zhi and others. Like a sharp knife, they charged directly into the enemy camp.
Before the people arrived, everyone drew their bows and arrows and shot arrows into the enemy camp.
As shouts of killing rang out, the Liao soldiers who were transporting the annual tribute were caught off guard and killed like a hot knife through butter under the leadership of fierce generals such as Lu Cheng.
When the subsequent infantry arrived, the battle was basically over. Hua Rong, Pang Wanchun and others each led a team to chase the fleeing Liao soldiers, while the others stayed behind to clean up the battlefield and guard the property.
Then, everything here was handed over to the infantry led by Ruda, and the rest of the cavalry also dispersed, chasing after the fleeing cavalry while sweeping out the nearby small tribes.
It was not until the evening that the cavalry returned, carrying 50 coins, as well as captured horses, armor, and weapons, and headed southeast.
This time, the cavalry was divided into two teams, one team leading the way, and the other team covering the rear. They traveled at night and headed towards the nearest mountain stronghold...