Ever since Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Guangyi, was defeated at the Gaoliang River, the Koreans were threatened by the Liao Kingdom. The two countries fought a few battles, and the Koreans lost all of them.
After that, Korea began to submit to the Liao Kingdom and no longer paid tribute to the Great Song. They were no longer a vassal state of the Great Song.
By the first year of Xining, the two countries had not contacted each other for 80 years.
After the destruction of Xia, the King of Koryo, Wang Fu, felt the rise of the Song Dynasty. Although they had not contacted each other for decades, the heart of Koryo was still towards the Song Dynasty. Han culture was far more attractive to Koryo than Liao and Jurchen.
It wasn't far from Koryo to the Song Dynasty. Pusan sailed straight to Qingzhou and then transferred to Jinan Prefecture to reach Kaifeng.
The Goryeo envoy, Kim Jong-ho, arrived in Kaifeng with a letter of credentials from the King of Goryeo, Wang Fu, and a large number of gifts.
The cabinet had already met with Kim Jong-il once, and after asking him in detail, they allowed him to meet the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.
Kim Jong-Hwan hurriedly knelt down after entering the hall.
"The subject of the vassal state, Jin Zhenghao, greets the Emperor of the Great Song. Long live the Emperor.”
Zhao Xu sat on the dragon throne and said in a deep voice,"
"Stand up, I remember that Great Song and Korea are not related to each other, right? Why are you doing this?"
"Reporting to the Emperor of the Great Song, the Khitans are powerful, and the Goryeans have no choice but to compromise. Now that the Great Song is strong, the king of the subjects has decided to re-establish a good relationship with the Great Song, expel the Khitans, and jointly revitalize China.”
After saying that, Jin Zhenghao took out the golden letter of credence and handed it to Wang Yong, who then handed it to Zhao Xu.
In the letter of credence, the King of Koryo, Wang Fu, declared himself a vassal and called Zhao Xu the Great Emperor of the Song Dynasty. His words were extremely humble.
Wang Fu was determined to reconcile the two countries. In the future, Korea would pay tribute to mink, ginseng, seafood, and so on every year.
After reading it, Zhao Xu was overjoyed. He picked up the imperial brush and personally wrote a letter of credence. He gave the King of Koryo, Wang Fu, a jade seal and 10,000 gold and silver. At the same time, he sent the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, Li Shangmao, to Koryo.
Zhao Xu naturally accepted the King of Koryo's request.
In fact, in the Renzong Dynasty, Goryeo sent an envoy from the sea once, but Renzong refused because Song Renzong did not dare to offend Liao.
Times had changed. The new emperor of the Song Dynasty had destroyed the Western Xia as soon as he ascended the throne. The King of Koryo, Wang Fu, was old, but he had a long-term vision. In the hearts of the Koreans, the Song Dynasty was the orthodox, and the Khitans were just passersby.
After sending off the Goryeo emissary, Zhao Xu looked at the memorials. Ever since the reform, there had been a lot of memorials. The cabinet could only execute some daily trivial matters. Major decisions had to be made by Zhao Xu.
The Western Xia Empire had been destroyed, and there were more and more places bordering the Liao Kingdom. Frontier fortresses had to be built everywhere. Shanxi Road, Hebei Road, and Jinan Prefecture on Jingdong Road were all frontlines with the Liao Kingdom.
The Liao Dao Sect's Yelu Hongji, who had been awakened by the sudden rise of Great Song, pulled himself together from his drunken stupor.
Among the Liao emperors established by the Khitans, he was one of the more ambitious emperors.
After the destruction of Xixia, Liao had begun to prepare their troops. The entire country had mobilized their troops to the south.
The Song and Liao armies had deployed millions of troops throughout the winter to confront each other.
From the grassland to the eastern seashore, a huge crescent-shaped arc quietly formed.
On Great Song's side, Yue Fei was in charge of the northern border defense line, and Qi Jiguang was in charge of the western border defense line. Great Song's defense line against Liao was impregnable.
Amongst them, Yue Fei's base camp, Baoding Prefecture, was the place where the Song and Liao sides had the sharpest confrontation. The small battles did not stop every day. In the cold winter, both sides fought in the snow, familiarizing themselves with each other's tactics and fighting will.
Zhao Xu had a clear view of the battle in front of him from the system's mini-map. After confirming that there was nothing serious, he suddenly accelerated the various reforms in the court.
Although land surveying had been suspended due to the weather, commercial reforms continued, and the reform of maritime trade was being vigorously implemented.
Merchants from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Arabian countries were particularly numerous in winter because of the ocean currents.
In winter, the ocean currents from the south were smooth sailing.
Zhang Juzheng was appointed as the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue by Zhao Xu. He was in charge of the country's shipping department, shipping office, and smaller shipping yards.
The profits from trading far exceeded other taxes, and the bulk of the trade had to be monopolized by the imperial court.
In order to cooperate with the imperial court's monopoly of large maritime trade, Zhao Xu specially allocated five million strings of money to build large ships. The entire Jiangnan Shipyard was moved to the Shandong Province's Qingdao Port.
As for the construction of the Song Navy, Zhao Xu handed it over to Wang Anshi, and the Ministry of Works cooperated.
In the cold winter, the Song Empire's various reforms were in full swing, and they also encountered the powerful counterattack of various conservative forces in the court.
Because this unprecedented reform had completely changed the system established by Emperor Taizu, even Empress Dowager Gao in the harem began to participate in the opposition of the Conservatives.
Sima Guang was the representative of the Conservatives in the Imperial Court, including most of the officials.
They did not dare to directly face the Emperor, but instead treated Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng as targets.
A huge storm was about to break out in the imperial court.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]