Rebirth: Overthrow Song Dynasty

The sun shines on the earth, but today's weather is still very cold.

In the howling north wind, Zhao Chen and others galloped forward.

After another quarter of an hour, they finally came to the front of the Liao State Palace!

Zhao Chen looked forward, only to see lofty palaces appearing in front of him, and he couldn't see the side at a glance!

This is a huge group of palaces built by the people of Liao people in the past two hundred years. In history, when the Jin Dynasty was settled as the capital of Yanjing, it was also used as a palace! When the Mongols invaded the Central Plains, they regarded the city of Yanjing as their capital, and the palace of the Liao Kingdom became the palace of the Mongols!

The palace here has nothing to do with the Forbidden City of Ming and Qing Dynasties. When Mongolia fell, most of them had been destroyed. Later, the city of Beijing was rebuilt by Zhu Di, and the Forbidden City was also a rebuilt palace complex. This is an ancient building complex that is completely invisible in later generations, and even has no "remains"!

After Zhao Chen came here, he felt "big" at first glance.

The architecture of Liao Kingdom is very different from the architecture of Central Plains and Jiangnan. The architecture of Central Plains and Jiangnan are exquisite and gorgeous, while the architecture of Liao Kingdom is magnificent and spectacular. The palace complex in front of you gives people an unusually crude feeling.

He looked around and suddenly discovered that there were countless buildings resembling a pagoda around the palace, with a surprised expression on his face right now.

"Are those stupas?" Zhao Chen pointed to the front.

"Yes, Your Majesty, those are the pagodas of the Liao Kingdom! The pagodas of the Liao people are very different from the pagodas of our Central Plains. They are octagonal pagodas, and they are all very tall!" Hu Quan said.

"Why are there so many stupas around this palace?" Zhao Chen asked strangely.

"Your Majesty, Liao people worship Buddha, so there are many pagodas around the palace! In fact, there are more than ten temples around the Yanjing Palace, and those pagodas are all temple buildings." Liu Yanzong walked up and said.

"Oh? Liao people worship Buddha? This is the first time I know." Zhao Chen said.

After he came to this era, the Liao Kingdom has been destroyed by the Jin Kingdom. He has never regarded the Liao Kingdom as an enemy, so he seldom cares about some of the customs of the Liao Kingdom. I don’t know that the people of the Liao Kingdom actually advocate Buddhism so much, around the palace. There are so many temples and pagodas.

"Your Majesty, after the Liao Taizu got the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, all here are my Han people! In order to win over us Han people, the Liao Taizu began to build stupas and advocate Buddhism! Later, the style of worshipping Buddha was in Liao More than 50 years ago, our scholar Su Song of Song Dynasty went to Liao to congratulate the emperor of Liao on his birthday. When he came back, he wrote a poem about the worship of Buddhism in Liao. The poem said, “The foothills of the Pagoda Temple Xishan can be climbed together on the foot of the mountain. The green pine is like an arch, and the building is eager to rise. Yili depends on the Buddha, and the living is also a noble monk. Looking at the infinite meaning, it describes hate and incompetence. There are too many temples, and Master Su Song doesn’t know how to describe it. A few years ago, when the Liao Kingdom was still alive, we in the Song Dynasty often said that both the north and the south were Buddha countries! The Buddha country in the south is Dali, and the Buddha country in the north. It's the Liao Kingdom." Yu Yunwen smiled as he looked at the pagoda in front of him.

"Your Majesty, Yelu Yanxi also liked Buddhism when he was the emperor of the Liao Kingdom! This Yelu Yanxi used the gold and silver from the treasury to entertain monks. At most, hundreds of thousands of monks a year! The weaker it is because of the Hua Shigang, and the weaker and weaker the national power of Liao is because of the rites of the Buddha." Li Chuwendao, who once served as the prime minister of Liao.

"Buddhism is very harmful. But after we have experienced many times of'destroying the Buddha' in the Central Plains, now that Zen is prosperous, Buddhism is no longer a concern." Zhao Chen nodded and said.

Zen pays attention to asceticism and does not pay attention to luxury, so after the annihilation of many Buddhism sects, Zen has become the number one Buddhism sect in the Central Plains.

"Are there any monks in those temples now?" Zhao Chen said again.

"Your Majesty, there has long been no one inside! When the Jurchens came and occupied the palace, those monks were killed by the Jurchens!" Liu Yanzong said.

The Jurchens also worship Buddhism in later generations, but the newly-started Jurchens believe in Shamanism, and have no respect for Buddhist disciples at all, so they kill if they want to.

"Go, let's go in." Zhao Chen smiled.

They entered from the front entrance of the palace, which is also very large. It is probably the largest palace front entrance in this era.

After entering from the inside, not long after walking, a large lake appeared in front of him.

It is early winter, and the north is cold, and there are a lot of ice floes floating on this big lake.

"Your Majesty, this is Yingsheng Lake! In the spring and summer season, there are many ducks, geese and waterbirds on the lake, but they are quite beautiful." Liu Yanzong said.

Zhao Chen nodded.

After passing by, a huge palace appeared in front of it, which was also a Khitan building, which was very different from the architecture of the Central Plains.

"Your Majesty, this is the Temple of Heaven!" Liu Yanzong said.

They entered the Tianyou Temple, watched it carefully, and then moved on.

"Your Majesty, this is the Shengming Temple!"

"Your Majesty, this is the Dominion Hall!"

"Your Majesty, this is Huayang Palace!"

Liu Yanzong is constantly introducing one palace after another!

"Your Majesty, this is a racecourse!" After passing by more than ten palaces, they came to a huge yard. There seemed to be a stable-like building here, but it was now abnormally broken, and the whole yard was overgrown with weeds. .

The Khitan people are a race of horses, and their imperial palace also has a racetrack, where the emperor can practice horsemanship.

In addition to the racecourse, there are also martial arts venues, archery fields, and so on. Many buildings show the martial arts style once possessed by the Khitan people. Of course, in the late period of Liao, the royal family of Liao was no different from the royal family of Song Dynasty. Except for a few people, the others were also very weak.

Until the setting sun went down, they hadn't walked through the entire palace.

The area of ​​the Liao State Palace is several times larger than that of the Forbidden City of later generations!

The later generations of the Forbidden City were built by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di. Zhu Di was a Han Chinese. Although he was a tyrant, he was also a Ming emperor. At that time, the country’s financial resources were limited. Zhu Di could not invest a large amount of gold and silver on the construction of the palace, while the Khitanese did not. Scruples! Especially the Khitan people who just emerged two hundred years ago, they are not yet fully civilized. They enslaved the Han people and used hundreds of thousands of Han people to build cities and palaces. Therefore, the scale of the Liao Kingdom's imperial palace was extremely large.

"Your Majesty, in front of you is the Imperial Study Room. The sky is already dark. Let's rest in it first." Liu Yanzong said.

"Good!" Zhao Chen nodded.

They entered the imperial study room, which had been simply cleaned up. There was still a stove in the room, which was obviously prepared by Hu Quan in advance.

"This Liao Kingdom's imperial palace is really good. Although it is not as gorgeous and exquisite as the Kaifeng and Lin'an imperial palaces, it is much more atmospheric!" Zhao Chen laughed.

"Not bad!" Yu Yunwen also nodded.

To be honest, after walking like this, Yu Yunwen was a little shocked. He did not expect that the crude Khitan people in the north could build such a magnificent palace complex. It was a miracle!

"Yu Aiqing, when I was in Zhongshan Mansion that day, I once said that Yanjing could also be used as the capital in the future. What do you think?" Zhao Chen said fiercely.

When Zhao Chen said what he said, everyone around him was taken aback, and Yu Yunwen was also taken aback. On that day, Zhao Chen just mentioned it casually, and Yu Yunwen didn't take it too seriously. He didn't expect Zhao Chen to say this sentence again now.

"Your Majesty, in all dynasties, most of the capitals were in Chang'an and Luoyang, while the current dynasty was in Kaifeng. The King Kang rebels were in Jiangnan and had to use Hangzhou as the capital! When we first entered Guanshan, the Jurchen threat was too great, so Let's regard Hanzhong as the capital! Since ancient times, there has been no reason to regard Yanjing as the capital. This is the northernmost part of the Central Plains. It is too close to the grasslands where barbarians live, Liaodong and other places, and it is too dangerous here!" Yu Yunwen said.

"Your Majesty, I also think that Master Yu is right! If your Majesty wants to set up the capital, he must either return to Kaifeng City, or use Chang'an or Luoyang as the capital! Kaifeng, Chang'an, and Luoyang have all experienced wars and are extremely broken. If your majesty is not pleased If you do, you can go to the Daming Mansion! That Daming Mansion was originally the capital of my court, and it can also be used as a temporary residence for your Majesty." Li Chuwen said.

"If you only govern the Central Plains, Kaifeng, Chang'an, Luoyang and even the Daming Mansion are all good places! During the Han and Tang Dynasties, Chang'an and Luoyang were capital cities because Chang'an and Luoyang were in the hinterland of the Central Plains! However, I want to govern more than just It's the Central Plains!" Zhao Chen said.

"What do you mean by your majesty?" Yu Yunwen asked in surprise.

"I mean, Kaifeng, Chang'an, Luoyang and other places are too far away from the grassland, and too far from Liaodong! I want to conquer the entire grassland, conquer Liaodong, and in the future I will rule the entire grassland and the Liaodong. At that time, Yanjing will be in the world, and only in Yanjing can we better govern the world!" Zhao Chen said.

Yu Yunwen, Hu Quan and others stayed there.

Before the Song Dynasty, the reason why Chang'an, Luoyang and other places were the capitals, as Zhao Chen said, because these places were "in the middle of the world" at that time, and they could dominate the Central Plains! But historically, when it came to the Kingdom of Jin, Yenching became the capital, because Yenching became the “in the world” of the Kingdom of Jin at that time! By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, this place was also a capital city, because it was able to sit in the Central Plains and control the grassland! At the time of the Ming Dynasty, the reason why Ming Chengzu decided his capital was to "the emperor guards the gate of the country." At that time, Mongolia in the northern grasslands had not been completely wiped out. , It is more conducive to resist foreign barbarians! In the Qing Dynasty, this was also the capital city, on the one hand because it was the most marginal place in the Central Plains, and on the other hand, the Qing people could withdraw from the Central Plains and return to the pass when necessary!

The reason why Zhao Chen deliberately regards this place as a capital, as he said just now, is planning to rule the north in the future! He wanted to be comrades not only in the Central Plains, but in northern grasslands, Liaodong and other places! Moreover, it is very close to the Bohai Sea, which is also conducive to maritime strategy in the future! China is a land country, but a land country has no future. It must go out of East Asia in the future! Another point is that the capital is set here, and with the development of shipping, it is also conducive to the North-South connection!

"Your majesty's ambition is great, the ministers and others understand it!" Yu Yunwen thought for a long time, and said in admiration.

Only then did he know that Zhao Chen really wanted to rule the grasslands and Liaodong, and double the territory of the Han people! During the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Han people also defeated the barbarians in the northern grasslands and conquered Goguryeo in Liaodong. However, the Han people's rule has always been in the Central Plains and has never expanded to the north. The north has always been the world of the grassland peoples, and the Xiongnu have eliminated them. , The Turks rose, the Turks disappeared, the Khitans began to rise again, and then the Jurchens began to rise again. If the history remains the same, the Mongols will follow! And Zhao Chen wanted to set the capital here, and truly manage the north, so that the north will no longer allow foreigners to run wild.

"This is something unprecedented in the ages, Your Majesty, I need to think carefully! If we can't defeat the foreigners in the end, it is still too dangerous here." Li Chuwen said.

"Now my great Song army is the strongest since the founding of the country. If I can't do it now, I won't be able to do it in the future! I want to settle here, but also to express my determination to completely eliminate all the northern foreign races and dominate the world." Zhao Chen said.

"Weichen wait to understand." Li Chuwen hurriedly said.

"Think carefully about this matter! Do you want to set up the capital here? If the capital is set here, the population will need to be moved. In addition, in Jizhou area, we need to build a new city for shipping and connecting Jiangnan! And, If the capital is here, what should the Japanese pirates do? If there are some foreign barbarian navy forces and they invade, what should I do? Think about these things carefully!" Zhao Chen said.

In fact, after defeating the Jurchens of the Central Plains in Zhongshan Mansion that day, Zhao Chen began to think about the matter of the capital. The questions he just said have been thinking about these days, and now he has only said it.

"Weichen, etc. will think about this matter carefully." Yu Yunwen nodded.

"Today the Khitan people in the inner city were cleaned out by us. The rest of the Khitan people in Yanjing City will definitely be aware of it. I don't know how they will react? Okay, let the soldiers have a good rest for the whole night. Live in the palace! From today, I will handle official business in this Liao Kingdom palace! No matter whether this is a capital in the future, I will stay in this place before conquering Liaodong." Zhao Chen laughed.