blueteamnovel #489 - Ezo Island
#489 - Ezo Island
A little over a quarter of an hour passed before the main hall began to return to its normal rhythm.
The Emperor and Empress Cao had already returned to their dragon thrones, wearing somewhat distracted, formulaic smiles as they watched the grandmasters below present their various treasures as birthday gifts.
Although these birthday gifts were rare and precious, the minds of the Emperor and Empress were clearly not on these things at the moment.
From time to time, they would glance at the globe placed on the dragon desk in front of them.
In fact, most of the senior officials, the imperial family, the relatives of the empress, and even the grandmasters of the Jianghu were the same.
Most of their attention had been drawn to the world map hanging behind the Emperor and Empress, and they would occasionally exchange a few words about it.
Only Liang Yue, as the instigator, and the women who were watching the live broadcast through the village platform, were surprised and amazed by the treasures that were being sent to the main hall.
After browsing through the birthday gifts from the various sects and grandmasters, the one that Liang Yue valued the most was not a rare treasure or a protective magic weapon, but a mechanical pulley-style crossbow!
It looked very much like the optimized designs for ancient cold weapons in modern society, based on the principles of physics, structure, and mechanics.
It could be said that, apart from the manufacturing materials, this crossbow was almost as good as modern works!
From the outside, this crossbow was streamlined, like a swift spreading its wings.
The crossbow was about 1.23 meters long, with an effective range of 400 meters, but the draw weight was greatly reduced due to the pulley system.
If such equipment could be mass-produced and equipped into the army of the Great Song Dynasty, and used for large-scale saturation fire, it would definitely be a heavy weapon on the battlefield!
This item was the work of a Mohist grandmaster~
Emperor Renzong of Song, as the recipient, was obviously not a military idiot. After seeing this crossbow, he couldn't wait to bring a group of guests from the main hall outside the palace gate.
After two guards operated it for a while, he personally took it up and shot three arrows at the target in the distance.
In the end, Renzong even indulged himself in the thrill of drawing the string with the pulley.
Zhao Zhen, who was already entering the later stages of his life, relied on his thin body and arms that were almost never exercised, but he still managed to successfully draw the strong crossbow in his hand.
After personally assessing the weight of this birthday gift, Emperor Renzong was naturally very satisfied, and almost immediately dispatched craftsmen from the court to set up a separate department to be responsible for studying the mass production of this equipment.
The senior officials in the court had no objection to this, and cooperated to the best of their ability as soon as they received the decree.
Liang Yue, who was not far away, saw all of this and immediately felt that this generation of emperors and courtiers was indeed good.
It seemed that the humiliation of the Chanyuan Alliance and the tuition fees of the annual tribute were not paid in vain.
At least on the surface, no one was making trouble~
......
About two hours later, Emperor Renzong's birthday banquet finally came to an end.
The guests in the main hall began to leave one after another, but Liang Yue was led aside by the chief eunuch beside Renzong, and then entered a side hall similar to the royal study.
At this moment, Emperor Renzong of Song, Zhao Zhen, and several important officials from the main hall, Han Qi, Bao Zheng, Fu Bi, and others, were already waiting here.
The world map and the globe that had been hanging in the main hall were also moved here.
Obviously, there must be something important to discuss with Liang Yue when he was summoned alone at this time.
"It's been hard on Qing Yuanzi Daoist Priest to come here alone. The gift that Daoist Priest has given is really too shocking, so that I am still a little fluttery and restless, ha ha ha ha ~"
Emperor Renzong seemed very polite at this time, and personally walked a few steps to welcome him in.
After greeting everyone present, Liang Yue sat down peacefully.
"There were too many people in the main hall today, and some things are indeed not suitable to be said openly. Your Majesty, please feel free to order."
"Previously, what Daoist Priest said about immigrating overseas was quite touching to us, but what we are most concerned about now is the horse-breeding land that Daoist Priest mentioned at the beginning.
May I ask Daoist Priest, in the areas surrounding our Great Song Dynasty, besides the northern barbarians, what other places are suitable for raising horses?"
After taking his seat, Bao Zheng, Lord Bao, was the first to speak. After experiencing a life-and-death disaster, this black-faced old man now seemed very open-minded. When it came to business, he almost immediately entered a working state.
"In the immediate vicinity, the most suitable place for our Great Song Dynasty to raise horses is in Japan."
As he spoke, Liang Yue got up and gently pointed to the world map spread out on the table, pointing his finger at the northernmost of the four islands of Japan.
"This place is called Ezo Island. Although it is close to Japan, it is regarded as a barbaric land by their country and has not been under its jurisdiction for a long time. The climate is cold, and there are indigenous people living on the island.
However, the terrain is relatively flat and suitable for raising horses. With the strength of our dynasty's maritime transport ships, if a batch of fine horse breeds can be moved in and sufficient horse grass is sown, the lack of horses in our Great Song Dynasty can be improved in one fell swoop within five years."
This Ezo Island, of course, is Hokkaido in Japan.
"This island of Japan is actually suitable for raising horses? I have never looked at it before."
When Emperor Renzong heard this, his eyes lit up, and he looked surprised, and his whole person bent down and looked at the small island on the map.
Afterwards, he became more and more satisfied, with a greedy look on his face.
"In fact, in my opinion, the one further north of this island seems to be good too. It is located at the mouth of a large river and is very close to the land where the Liao Kingdom is located.
If it can be taken for oneself without anyone knowing, and secretly send generals to station and train there, at a critical moment, it will definitely be able to give the Liao people a hard blow from behind!"
Han Qi, the Prime Minister Han, who had experience in leading military teams and fighting defeats, also had a look of wisdom in his eyes at this time, bending over and pointing to a large island north of Ezo Island.
Looking at that momentum, it has a bit of the style of vertical and horizontal, swallowing the world......
"This matter... what does Qing Yuanzi Daoist Priest think?"
When Renzong heard this, he also felt that it made sense, but in the end he still looked at Liang Yue.
"This island is called Sakhalin Island. Its southern part is mostly mountainous, with dense forests, while the northern part is mainly hilly and mountainous, with relatively gentle terrain. It itself contains mineral resources, and the fishery resources are also very rich.
However, only some uncivilized natives live on the island. If a military force can be sent to station there, even if it occasionally needs to be transported some materials and food from the country, it is estimated that it will not cost much money."
Liang Yue ultimately gave a positive evaluation of the ideas of this monarch and his ministers.
After all, Sakhalin Island is indeed a treasure land, in addition to its strategic location, it also produces oil, coal, and gold.
In addition, the terrain on the island is generally undulating, not flat, which is not conducive to cavalry operations, which limits the Liao people's combat capabilities.
But if it is only used as a garrison island and a naval base, it can threaten the rear of the Liao regime to a considerable extent.
"Then it's decided like this. Order the maritime shipyard to speed up the construction of warships, and various transport ships must also keep up. Order the Mohists and Gongshus to intensify the research and development of stronger naval warships!"
......