Although the King of Jinan and Jining temporarily stopped their troops and opened the waterways under the mediation of multiple parties and warnings of the Southern Dynasty, the situation suddenly became tense. A number of water thieves and river robbers suddenly appeared near the canal. They plundered goods and robbed merchant ships. For a moment, the turmoil was caused by the storm. The separate merchant ships did not dare to go into the water to form a brigade, but they were still unable to escape and were frequently attacked.

Merchant ships were repeatedly robbed, which not only caused losses to merchants, but also caused huge losses to the interests of the powerful and powerful people behind them. They put pressure on Yechari and Chahan Timur to eliminate the bandits as soon as possible and ensure the safety of the merchant ships. However, the canal stretches for hundreds of miles, with many rivers large and large rivers flowing in, and there are many rivers and water scattered. At this time, the reeds are in full bloom, which is very suitable for bandits to hide.

Therefore, although the two sent troops to clear the enemy many times, although they gained something, they were still difficult to cut off. Moreover, the bandits were very cunning. They knew that the two had deep resentment. Once they were chased, they fled into each other's territory, which made the pursuers afraid to throw themselves into the enemy's weapons and dare not rush to pursue the enemy rashly, so as not to cause misunderstandings.

So the bandits jumped left and right on the canal, robbed the merchant ships of this place, and immediately hid in the other party's jurisdiction, and even sneaked into the Southern Dynasties, causing the pursuit of the government to stare at nothing. This led to the little effect of the bandit suppression, and Yezheli and Chahan Timur were even more suspicious, suspecting that the other party instructed the bandits to rebel in their own jurisdiction, which led to the two sides accusations and the conflicts became deeper.

The Southern Dynasties also repeatedly protested, saying that they would allow bandits to cross the border and enter the Song Dynasty to rob. If this happens, they will have to send troops across the border and clear them. All the consequences will be held. In a panic, they can only strictly order local governments to jointly promote the attack, but local governments refuse on the grounds that their finances are tight and they are unable to recruit troops.

But the bandits seemed to have tasted the sweetness. They changed from the single fight in the past to unite to commit crimes. They gathered in Hubo, with thousands of people, and hundreds of them. Small groups of officials did not dare to plunder their edge. They became more and more courageous, and they actually dared to openly break into the canal, kill the official army escorting the tribute fleet, and snatched the tribute...

In the eyes of the Song Dynasty, Sui Gong was not worth much, but a sign of national strength and dignity, and a manifestation of the surrender of another country. Especially since the founding of the Song Dynasty, it has been invaded by nomadic peoples. However, in order to avoid border troubles, in order to avoid border troubles, it had to pay annual tribute to the Khitan, Jurchen, Xixia, and even the Mongol Yuan.

Some people say that spending money to buy peace is also a strategy. After all, this money was only a small amount of money for the Song Dynasty, which was unprecedentedly prosperous, and was less than a fraction of the trade volume gained from both sides. This view was still popular in later generations, believing that using money to buy peace in the world and creates trade opportunities for themselves, which is enough to offset the negative impact.

However, Zhao Bing believed that even if the reparations in the Song Dynasty did not bring disaster to the country and brought extremely heavy burden to the people as in the late Qing Dynasty, this behavior was small and insulting, and was a humiliating country and even a nation. Conversely, the Song Dynasty collected annual tributes from other vassal states, but it could increase the pride of the nation and also a symbol of national strength.

Nowadays, there are actually quite a few people who have the same idea as Zhao Bing, especially when the country was destroyed by the Mongol Yuan, the emperor was kidnapped, and the Mongols bullied for more than ten years, the Mongol Yuan was beaten to the death of the city and land by the Song Dynasty, and the loss of soldiers and generals had to ask for peace and pay tribute from themselves, which not only made the scholars feel proud, but also made the ordinary people proud.

Therefore, when the news that the Mongol Yuan Sui Gong did not pay on time this year reached Lin'an, it immediately aroused dissatisfaction among the court. Under the manipulation of some people, various "conspiracy theories" were prevalent. The statement that the Mongol Yuan Sui Gong was robbed by bandits was not trustworthy at all. What was more intense was that it was intentional to provoke trouble and despise the Song Dynasty. Even if it was more normal, it was also believed that the Mongol Yuan was testing the bottom line of the Song Dynasty and seeking opportunities to destroy the peace. The people's thoughts were the simplest, and they believed that under heavy escorts, how could Ai Gong fall into the hands of bandits? It was obvious that they wanted to pay the debt.

At this time, the Song Dynasty communications were still in the low stage of Yima transmission, but the development of the newspaper industry had entered a stage of vigorous development. Not only did the imperial daily newspapers sponsored by the court, the Lin'an Times, the Privy Council, and various ministries and provinces also issued reports from time to time, but there were more than a dozen private business newspapers. The upward and downward effect were achieved, and local road administrations also followed the newspapers, forwarded important information about the imperial newspapers, and added local news and information.

Therefore, the news released by Lin'an was spread to various places through the post transmission system, and brought back the news from various places. Although the information will be lagging behind depending on the distance, the spread of information was successfully completed, making the current events in the border areas quickly spread across the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty condemned the actions of the Mongolian Yuan and must not tolerate what they did. The court must punish them. For a time, Zhao Bing's desk was filled with comments from all walks of life. Some officials denounced the shamelessness of the Mongolian Yuan and wanted to be severely punished, some soldiers in the army asked for a fight to fight, and some scholars asked the court to send troops to defend the humiliation. This matter also became an important topic for many groups of talks, and they also submitted memorials to demand a tough response to the Mongolian Yuan...

Of course, all this was planned by Zhao Bing and ordinary people from the Affairs Bureau. Speaking of which, "rumor spreading" is also a technical task. They made "appropriate" adjustments to the facts, exaggerated some aspects, but deleted some content, which made the people feel reasonable and easy to accept, and also made the government and the public feel angry and shared the same hatred of the enemy.

For example, they said that the tribute sent by the Mongol Yuan was robbed by bandits, and the people of the Song Dynasty generally disapprove of it.

You should know that under his strong suppression of the Song Dynasty, bandits at sea and in the mainland have almost disappeared. There are only occasional rumors of bandits in Yunnan and Guizhou. It is impossible to say that they will not close their doors at night and do not pick up their remains, but it is also a rare scene of peace. The situation was when the Mongols and Yuan cavalry ravaged Jiangnan, and the people remembered it deeply. How could they believe that the Mongolian army that once made them suffer from poisoning are now defeated by those bandits like mobs, and they even let them rob the tribute.

Therefore, the truth and false news are spread out, and those who know the truth will not tell it. Those who do not know the truth will make up for it by themselves, so that Zhao Bing can successfully mobilize the common hatred of the enemy and complete the psychological construction of starting a war. Although it is not guaranteed that everyone will support starting a war, at least it reduces resistance.

As July entered, Zhao Bing issued an edict in the court and the people of the government and the country to punish the Mongolian Yuan, requiring the Mongolian Yuan to pay annual tribute as soon as possible, to eliminate the robbers who harassed the border and disrupted the robbers. Otherwise, in order to protect the safety and interests of merchants in the Song Dynasty, the possibility of sending troops to attack the robbers is not ruled out.

This decree can be regarded as Zhao Bing's warning to the Mongolian and Yuan dynasties, but it is actually equivalent to issuing a war warning. At present, the army of the Song Dynasty has quietly completed the preparations for war, and all the armies have completed the replacement of new weapons and renovated training. Pre-war reconnaissance has been fully launched. The pre-stocking points have been built. New recruits have replenished the army, cancelled all vacations, and attacked with an order.

At this time, it was less than a month since Zhao Bing planned to launch a war. It was actually a debate to choose to send troops in August. Everyone knows the rules of Mongolian war horses "fat in autumn, strong in winter, and thin in spring". That is to say, the Mongolian cavalry has the strongest combat power in autumn, and of course this is also determined by the laws of the rise and fall of the grassland.

However, this rule is not completely applicable in the Song Dynasty, because the grain output in Jiangnan is high, and the war horses can be fed with grain when the grassland witheres. Therefore, some generals in the army can start wars when winter goes to and spring comes. At this time, it is the time when Mongolian horses are weakest. Our army is mainly infantry, but the impact is very small, which can increase the chance of victory. Spring combat is more adaptable to most soldiers from Jiangnan and improve their combat effectiveness.

However, the success or failure of a war is not determined by a certain factor, but must be considered comprehensively. First of all, spring is a critical period for the farming people to determine the harvest of the year. The war requires recruiting and recruiting a large number of servants to accompany the army, which must affect the spring plowing and even the abundant food in that year. However, the autumn harvest in Jiangnan in August has basically ended completely, and there will be nearly five months of slack farming.

The second is the issue of material transportation. Nowadays and even modern times, no one can deny that water transportation is the method of large transportation volume and lowest cost among various means of transportation. However, there are no aircraft, fire ships, cars, and water transportation have become the most convenient and most efficient transportation method. However, the rivers in the north are still in the freezing period during the Spring Festival, and the water flow is small, which of course will affect the transportation efficiency.

In August, the rivers had not yet been frozen. The Song army could use the canal and the Yellow River to mobilize troops and transport materials, establish new material supply points in the Central Plains, and even transport materials to the hinterland of the Central Plains by sea. In this way, while ensuring the supply of materials on the front line, it also greatly saved manpower and material resources.

In addition, after the war was launched in August, Zhao Bing planned to take two to three months to recover Shandong. At this time, winter was already in place, and the northern rivers and land had been frozen. At that time, the army did not need to build bridges, and the frozen land was convenient for heavy artillery vehicles and vans to pass, improving the mobility of the troops.
Chapter completed!