Having just robbed two Japanese merchant ships, the Haibo did not take advantage of the night, but continued to sail towards the Japanese archipelago and approached Kyushu Island the next morning. Then he turned around and headed north through the Tsushima Strait, and went directly to the Liaodong Peninsula along the west side of the Korean Peninsula, heading straight towards the Liaodong Peninsula, without panic. The more ships he saw, the more Hong Tao felt. Although his Haibo still has many shortcomings that need to be solved slowly, such as the anti-swing water cabinet at the bow and stern of the ship, it can already be dominated by the current Asian water area.

"Brother Wen, what do you think of my ship? If I had ten such big ships, which port in the Song Dynasty could have merchant ships in and out? Without overseas trade, the treasury would be half empty, right? The treasury is empty, and you officials' wages may not be able to be paid. Do you still have money to pay tribute to the Jin Kingdom?" Now Hong Tao found a very fun thing to do, which was to grab the hungry Doctor Wen, who was like a hungry bed bug, from the bottom cabin every morning, then warmed him a pot of rice wine, put a plate of dried fish and jerky meat, and watched him eat voraciously while playing with him.

Hong Tao did not want to insult his personality, but wanted to use this method to inquire about the details of the Southern Song Dynasty, especially the situation in the north. It is useless to ask Luo Youde about these things. He is just a small businessman who has just emerged. He does not have so many connections in the political circle and does not care much about these things in normal times. Wen Nan is different. He is an official of the Southern Song Dynasty and an official in the capital. He must know more than Luo Youde. But, this standard Southern Song literati has a bad temper. If you talk to him well, he will use various obscure words to curse people. Although Hong Tao doesn't understand most of the allusions, he is 100% sure that he is scolding himself.

But this Wen Nan Wen doctor is too square. Once you get angry with him and talk about his heart, he will forget about this and will not help but argue with you. Once you argue, what Hong Tao wants to know will come out. Compared with Hong Tao, he is like a pure angel. People with high character can never compete with people with no character, because he has persistence and ideals, but Hong Tao does not. If you have desires, you will be strong. Hong Tao is almost at this level. He has no persistence and no ideals. Everything can be exchanged. It only depends on whether you can afford to pay this price.

"Sui Gong? Hahaha... The fool's opinion! If the court goes to war with the Jin Kingdom, the money and grain consumed every year will be dozens of times, hundreds of times more than the annual tribute, and the people will suffer from misery. As an emperor, the official bears this infamy and uses some small profits to protect the people from harm. Without war, it can increase ten times or a hundred times tax, and it is not enough to worry about the mere tribute." Wen Laozhong was fighting with a piece of whale jerky. When he heard Hong Tao being mocking the court for tribute to the Jin Kingdom, he immediately gave up his attack on the jerky and began to maintain the dignity of the court wholeheartedly. By the way, he also laughed at Hong Tao. In order to prove that he made sense, he simply calculated the economic account for Hong Tao.

"..." I have to say that this literary doctor is worthy of being a diplomatic person and has a good eloquence, which makes Hong Tao feel bored.

Hong Tao didn't want to mess with Wendian on this issue. He was originally dissatisfied with the cowardice of the Song Dynasty. Why could such a rich country be defeated by a group of nomadic people? Even if there are no horses, he should have gathered the whole country's strength, use people and money to fight against the other party!

But what Wen Langzhong said was another way of thinking, which should be the consensus of the ruling class of the Song Dynasty. They believed that as a ruler, the main task was not to expand territory, or even lose part of the territory, but to allow the people under his rule to live a good life.

How to say it, this view may arouse opposition from most young people. They are full of energy, have never experienced hardships, have never experienced wars, and do not understand what sufferings and wars are. Once the war starts, it is not so light in words, it is really going to destroy the family. If the Southern Song Dynasty court gathers the strength of the whole country to collect heavy taxes from the people of the whole country, spends all the national treasury, and fights the Jin people back, and steals the lost land. Then what? Then half of the dead population, guards the empty national treasury, and everyone eats chrysanthemum together?

Will the people praise this generation of emperor as a great man? How to praise him? Say he has led the people to prosperity and strength? A country without an economic foundation and empty national strength, even if the Jin Kingdom is defeated, what should the Xixia people do if they come again? Fight another fight? Then, the national strength is weaker and the treasury is more empty. What about the Mongols? Or destroy the country and the nation. After several troubles, the people have not lived a good life, but the result is still a virtue.

Unsolvable. Under the current productivity and geographical conditions, Hong Tao felt that even if he was the emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, he could not play any flowers. Cavalry, large-scale cavalry regiments, for Southern Song infantry who lacked horses, it was unsolvable. This was just like the German tank cluster swept across Europe, and the huge French country was instantly destroyed. They criticized the surrendered French government. What can they do if they didn't surrender? Use infantry to fight against the tank cluster? Is it heroic? It is indeed heroic, just like the Polish cavalry launching a desperate charge against the German tank cluster, it really makes people cry. But war is not a movie, sensationalism can achieve its goal in an instant. Movie sensationalism depends on actors, and he can get up after death. Sentimentalism in war is really dead. If those cavalry that launched suicide charges have your son, do you still think it should charge?

The Song Dynasty actually encountered this situation. In such years without modern communication conditions, it took one or two days for hundreds of miles to connect with each other, and the opponent's cavalry had long run away. The initiative in war is always in the hands of the cavalry. People fight as long as they want, go as they want, fight as they want, fight wherever they want, fight wherever they want, fight wherever they want.

As the saying goes, only a thousand days of thieves are not a thousand days of defense. Passive defense is very financially consuming. Youthful and strong people have to go to the front line to defend. Let’s not talk about where so many cities come from. Do you need to build a Great Wall? The lack of labor and logistics supply alone will take the life of a government. Who planted the land of the family? How to send food and weapons to the front line? Infantry can only rely on transportation lines and survive in towns. You can’t let infantry prepare to fight field battles with cavalry troops anytime and anywhere on the front line, right?

You have set up your formation and come up with a way to deal with the cavalry. If someone doesn't hit you, go around and hit you behind you. What should you do? The Mongolian cavalry did this in history. You have a strong city, right? You have to guard it, I will go around and hit you around and wipe out all around you to see how long you can stay. One year or two years? There is no supply. You will have to abandon the city sooner or later, and you will kill you if you come out.

Therefore, in this era, infantry and cavalry fighting will always be the passive side. Some people say that there are also cases of infantry defeating cavalry in history! There are indeed, but there are many conditions. For example, terrain, tactics, weather, and information collection of both sides can only be encountered and cannot be copied. At the grand strategic level, infantry can never deal with cavalry fighting in large groups, and it cannot be consumed. Whether you want to fight quickly or enter a war of attrition, the initiative is not on the side of the infantry, you have to follow the wishes of the cavalry.

Under such circumstances, it is not easy to reach a peaceful situation with the other party. As for the annual tribute, only 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 pieces of silk, Wen Nan is right. This thing has no harm to the Southern Song Dynasty. Through the trade surplus between the two sides, it can be earned back soon, which means nothing is given to the other party. This is the result of the stable life of the people of the whole country, and no family has to lose children. The domestic culture and economy can all develop greatly, and the people's sense of happiness in life is much stronger.

This is a question of thinking mode. As a manager of a country, do you plan to use the pain of the people to exchange for your achievements, or to use your reputation to damage to the people's happiness in life. Both choices are correct. Hong Tao himself prefers the latter because his personality is not that kind of ambitious, nor is he a hero. He is more willing to live a peaceful life.

"Then how long do you think this kind of life will last? What if the other party recovers and has the ability to attack the Song Dynasty again, and the people don't want the money you give? Isn't this money in vain?" Although Hong Tao can understand the original intention of the Southern Song government's practice, they are not time travelers, and they always have historical limitations. They cannot think that the Jin Kingdom, which was once the main enemy, will soon die out, and will usher in another more vicious enemy. At that time, the people don't want it if you want to give money.

"This dynasty has strong soldiers and generals stationed in the natural dangers of the Han River and Huai River, and are not afraid of anyone! Since the Liao Kingdom can negotiate peace, the Jin Kingdom can negotiate peace, and other countries can negotiate peace, and the barbarians can also influence it." Wen Nan's words are too literati. They are fools who talk about war on paper, too ideal.

"Nonsense, you can influence me! You haven't answered the question I asked you just now. If I took ten such big ships from Guangzhou, heading north, burning all the port cities of Quanzhou, Wenzhou, Mingzhou and Lin'an, do you think the Song Dynasty warships can stop me? I don't want money, I just think it's fun, I like to kill people for fun. You have also seen that not only I want to kill people, but I am also teaching my descendants to kill people. These people are the same as me. How do you plan to influence me?" Hong Tao began to argue. He wanted Wen Nan to understand his thoughts. If he could really understand himself, he might really put him back and let him remind the Southern Song court. Even if he shouted a few times, it might be of some use.

"You...you are simply unreasonable!" Wen Nan really couldn't answer. He had seen the power of a ship like Haibo. Not only did it sink the ship, but he was a witness that time and could not see the complete combat situation. In the past ten days, every time Hong Tao attacked a single ship on the sea, he would take him to the stern, allowing him to clearly see how the ship fought with the people on the ship, and he felt very cold.

As a diplomat who specializes in receiving foreign missions, he often takes sea boats. He can't say he has any understanding of naval warfare, but at least he is familiar with it. He has already come to a conclusion in his heart that the ships such as the Haibo are indeed much more powerful than any ship he has ever seen. It is a comprehensive suppression. If there are really ten such big ships coming together, the navy from any port will not be able to stop it. Once these ships have the upper hand, it is really not nonsense to destroy a city. All the prosperity of the Southern Song Dynasty is in these big cities along the coast. Once attacked, it will be a disaster. If no one needs to fight, he will collapse.
Chapter completed!