Chapter 1: Ambition Soars

  A regiment, with only about 500 people, is not many. The commander of the regiment is not a high-ranking position, but when one becomes the commander of the regiment, it is equivalent to becoming a division-level officer in modern times, and the path to further advancement has already been paved.

  A path of green cloud has already been opened for Wu Ji!

  "Ah!" Zheng Tai nodded with great comfort, chuckled and raised his tone: "Lord Wu, at present the imperial court is vigorously implementing reforms to strengthen itself, revolutionizing the old and bringing in the new, striving for achievements. It's exactly people like you who are needed now. Lord Wu may not have read many military books, but he has strategic ideas in his mind, one sentence of 'adapting to circumstances and leading to advantage' has expressed the essence of warfare, good! Good! Good!"

  At this time, the Song Dynasty was in the Yuanyou period of Emperor Song Shen, which was the peak of Wang Anshi's reform. Although Wang Anshi's reform failed, Emperor Song Shen was the emperor who most wanted to change among all the emperors of the Song Dynasty. During this period, he sought talents eagerly and promoted them rapidly. If Wu Jie did well, once he entered Emperor Song Shen's sight, his future would be bright!

  "Where did I read military books?" Wu Ji heard Zheng Tai's praise and couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile.

  "Director Wu, if the commander-in-chief takes another step forward, he will be a general commanding an army! With Director Wu's talent, this is not difficult. More importantly, this is a border area, and the Liao State often invades, and wars break out from time to time between the two countries. This is Director Wu's stage."

  Zheng Tai spoke more and more happily, with increasing admiration: "Looking at ancient and modern times, there are only two ways to achieve merit and receive rewards: one is to study literature, follow a wise ruler, and create achievements. In the previous dynasty, there were Fang Du, in this dynasty, there is Zhao Pu. Two is to join the army, lead a strong team, sweep across the world, and establish unparalleled achievements. In the previous dynasty, there were Li Jing, Wang Zhongyi, Guo Ziyi, and others, in this dynasty, there are Cao Bin, Di Qing."

  The air was thick with the temptation: "The imperial court is eager to promote talented people, regardless of their background. General Wang Shao's 'Ping Rong Ce' earned him a heavy responsibility and he became the guardian of the western frontier, achieving great success in Hexi. This is indeed the border region, the place where men can make their mark! If Wu Da Ren can achieve something here, who knows, maybe our dynasty will produce another hero like Huo Qubing!"

  Huó Qūbìng refers to the famous Western Han general Huo Qubing. At 18 years old, he followed the army as a junior officer and died at 24 after six battles against the Xiongnu, establishing unparalleled merits. "Enclosing the Wolf's Den" is a legendary tale that has been passed down for thousands of years!

  Zeng Ta's praise seems very high, but in fact, it is possible. Wu Ji was only eighteen years old, not even nineteen, and made achievements on the border, possibly becoming the youngest general.

  If it really comes down to that, I'm not necessarily inferior to Huo Qubing.

  "How can you compare with Huo Qubing? It's not that easy to surpass him!" Wu Ji deeply knew that it was too difficult to compare with Huo Qubing, and shook his head repeatedly.

  "It's difficult, but it doesn't mean we can't succeed!" Zheng Ta, however, didn't quite agree with Wu Ji's view. Smiling, she explained: "Huo Qubing was a great hero, but think about it, he only defeated the Xiongnu. In our dynasty, there are many more enemies than in the Han Dynasty - the Khitan, Western Xia, Tubo, and Western Regions. These places were originally part of China, belonging to China since the Han Dynasty, but our dynasty has yet to recover them, leaving people sighing. The imperial court once said: 'If we don't destroy the Khitan, eliminate Western Xia, recover Liaodong, pacify Tubo, and take back the Western Regions, then we can't be called a unified empire!'"

  "'Unification of the world?' Wu Ji was somewhat surprised. Didn't history textbooks clearly state that the Song Dynasty unified the country?"

  "Haha! The official is a capable ruler, daring to face mistakes head-on! The official said that the imperial court has not unified China! How big is the land of China? Wu, as a scholar, must know: Yan Yun's 16 states, Liaodong, the Great Desert, Ganliang, Tubo, Xiyu, Vietnam, and Dali, these places that do not belong to the imperial court today are all Chinese territory, and were Chinese territory during the Han Dynasty. You say, has the imperial court unified China? Zheng Ta's tone rose, very excited: "Since the founding of the imperial court by our ancestors, only you, official, dare to face reality, dare to speak such words! Your ambition is boundless, vowing to unify China, it is a great opportunity for us men to make achievements and establish merit, we must not miss it!"

  Wu Ji's mouth was open for half a day, but he couldn't say a word.

  The Song Dynasty unified China, it is written clearly in the textbooks. Wu Ji's history was not good enough and he did not delve deeper into it. After listening to Zheng Tai's words, he suddenly felt enlightened, as if he had been awakened from a dream. What Emperor Song Zong said was right, the Song Dynasty did not unify China, but instead staged another version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" with the Khitan and Western Xia.

  China's true territory is not only the land owned by the Song, Khitan and Western Xia dynasties, but also includes Vietnam, Nanzhao, Tubo, Xiyu and Damao. Only when these places are recovered can it be considered a truly unified China!

  In the Song Dynasty, the emperor was called a government official. When Emperor Shenzong of Song spoke such words, it showed that he had great ambitions and wanted to restore the achievements of his ancestors, indicating that the Song Dynasty would undergo earth-shaking changes!

  If he succeeds, the Song Dynasty will restore the heroic spirit of Qin and Han, and the prosperous atmosphere of Tang!

  "Wang Anshi's reform ended in failure, and Song Emperor Shenzong's ambition was not realized. Since I have come to the Song Dynasty, I will help Emperor Shenzong with all my might!" Wu Jie's mind was racing with excitement, and he set a goal for himself.

  The weakest link in the Song Dynasty was not its economy, but its military. The Song army's combat effectiveness was not strong, and Wu Jie happened to be able to make up for this shortcoming. If Wu Jie were to assist, the Song army's combat effectiveness would certainly be greatly enhanced, defeating the Liao State, destroying Western Xia, and unifying China might not be impossible!

  Wu Ji became more and more spirited, chatting with Zheng Taigong. The two of them spoke freely, without restraint, and their conversation was very lively. Until they were parched and tongue-tied, Zheng Taigong finally bid farewell to Wu Ji.

  Before leaving, Zheng Taide asked for a few thunderbolt bombs. Wu Ji thought he was going to use them for self-defense and gave him a few, reminding him of the important things.

  Reminded by Zheng Tai, Wu Ji could no longer hold back, and brought out a map of the Song Dynasty to compare with the modern Chinese map in his memory, and was shocked to find that the territory of the Song Dynasty was far smaller than that of modern times.

  The North China Plain, Inner Mongolia, the three northeastern provinces, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet, Xinjiang and Yunnan were not recovered. In such a fragmented state, how dare the Song Dynasty claim to have unified China?

  How dare you!

  "I've heard that the Tang Dynasty was very powerful, but I don't know to what extent its territory stretched?" As soon as he thought of this, Wu Ji couldn't wait any longer and found Zheng Tai, borrowed a map of the Tang Dynasty, compared it with the size of modern China, and found it to be much larger.

  The territory of the Tang Dynasty, in addition to including modern China, also included parts of Vietnam, Central Asia, Mongolia and Siberia, with several hundred million square kilometers more land than modern China.

  "The Song Dynasty was really terrible!"

  Wu Ji looked at the map, feeling a sense of nostalgia. He thought to himself: "Fortunately, with the emergence of Emperor Song Taizong, who has great ambitions, if I can provide my assistance and use the weapons I've created, it's not impossible to restore the grandeur of Qin and Han, and the prosperity of Tang! Hmm, this is settled then!"

  Wu Ji constantly turned the idea in his mind: "If I want to have a place in Song Shenzong's heart, be able to speak up and influence the situation, I must show my strength! As the commander of the Upper Camp, I can let go and do it. Train the army well, fight a few battles on the border, establish enough military merit, and at that time, I will have a place, speaking with weight, and be able to influence Song Shenzong's decision-making!"

  Once a person has a goal, they will be particularly excited. Wu Ji's spirit is high, and he feels that he has endless energy.

  Summon Wu Qing and Qiao Dayuan, tell them that Zheng Taizhen plans to let them enter the government office as officials. This time, the Wu family's military personnel followed Wu Jie to exterminate the Liu Feng thieves and made great achievements, they can become officials now.

  However, Wu Qing and his men were unwilling to become officials and preferred to follow Wu Qing. Wu Qing could not persuade them otherwise, so he had no choice but to let them be.

  Next, Wu Jie began preparing to take over the army.