Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 667
In the room, Aya was squatting on the ground, washing Fan Ning's feet carefully. The last two days were spent traveling north in a carriage. Fan Ning was really tired and ready to go to bed.

At this time, Zhu Pei came in with tremella and bird's nest soup. She put the bowl on the table and asked, "What is Wang Xianggong doing here?"

"He came to ask for my support. During this period of time, he was frustrated and hoped that I could support him."

Zhu Pei snorted dissatisfiedly, "At the beginning, he persuaded the emperor not to go to Xixia, but he put you on the fire. At this moment, he wanted to ask you for help. How shameless is this person?"

Fan Ning smiled, "I've known Wang Anshi for many years. He is stubborn. He doesn't look back when he bumps into the south wall. He is self-willed and doesn't listen to others' persuasion. But in terms of character, he and Zhang Yaozuo are completely different. The reason why the emperor doesn't want to go to Xixia is not necessarily to deal with me, but because he is really afraid that the emperor will get sick, and that is his only political support."

"But Mr. Fu didn't mean to lie to you on purpose, did he?"

"If a person has a prejudice against another person, no matter what the other person does, he will think the worst. This is human nature. Fu Xianggong did not lie to me. He did believe that Wang Anshi had ulterior motives, but his conclusion may not be fair. We should make our own judgments."

"So you plan to support him?"

"I support Wang Anshi's plan, but how to make a statement, you have to wait and see, and you can't jump out in a hurry."

"Forget it, I just care about it, the officials can take care of themselves, rest early today, and talk about tomorrow if there is anything else."

Zhu Pei gave Aya a wink, Aya understood, wiped Fanning's feet with a dry cloth, got up and went out with a basin.

Fan Ning snorted softly, but Zhu Pei smiled sweetly, "After riding in the carriage for two days, stop thinking about it and go to bed early!"

After speaking, she also closed the door and went out.

Fanning had to lie on the bed, his body was so tired that he fell apart, and fell asleep after only a moment.

Early the next morning, Fan Ning came to the East Building of the Privy Council. The entire East Building was assigned to the Intelligence Department and officially listed in the capital, but the name on the sign was the Chief of Staff of the Privy Council.

Fan Ning walked up to the second floor and met Guo Kui at the top of the stairs. Guo Kui was both surprised and delighted, "Master is back!"

"I just came back yesterday. Where is your official room? Let's go and have a seat."

"It's right next to you, sir!"

Fan Ning followed Guo Kui into the official room, and a little tea boy came in to serve tea. Fan Ning asked, "What happened to the Liao Kingdom? Yelu Hongji suddenly became tough."

Guo Kui sat down and sighed: "The Jurchen Ministry has been wiped out, and the Kelei Ministry has surrendered. Does the Liao Kingdom have no worries?"

Fan Ning frowned, "How come, it was wiped out in less than a year?"

Guo Kui said slowly: "Shi Xian won't be a big deal. After he unified the Jurchens, he was very arrogant and domineering. He was severely unfairly distributed. He rewarded the tribe who followed him, and the tribe who followed Wanyan didn't have anything, which aroused the hatred of some tribes. The Lunbu secretly colluded with the Liao army and betrayed the Jurchen tribe. One hundred thousand Liao troops surrounded the Jurchens' lair. Liebu knew that he could not resist, so he took the initiative to put down his weapons and surrender to the Liao Kingdom."

It turned out that this was the case, and Fan Ning asked again: "Is there any news about Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie?"

"You got news!"

Guo Kui took out a copy of the eagle letter and handed it to Fan Ning, "This is the urgent report from Liaoyang that I just received yesterday, sir, please read it."

Fan Ning took the emergency report and read it, and immediately understood that the Xiao Guanyin incident broke out.

Xiao Guanyin is the queen of Yelu Hongji. She loves music and is often with a Han musician. Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie jointly concocted false evidence to accuse Xiao Guanyin of having an affair with the musician. Yelu Hongji believed Yelu Yixin. The queen was executed for the accusation, and finally the prince Yelujun was also executed.

Historically, Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie launched the Xiao Guanyin case. The fundamental reason was to deal with the crown prince Yelujun. The case of Xiao Guanyin came to frame the prince, but because of Yelu Hongji's stupidity, they succeeded. Not only the empress and prince were killed, but all the upright ministers who sympathized with the prince were murdered.

A rebellion in the Yuan Dynasty, a case of Xiao Guanyin, the famous generals and good officials of the Liao Kingdom were wiped out, and only flatterers were left in the Manchu Dynasty, which made the Liao Kingdom completely decline. Xin and Zhang Xiaojie dragged out the coffin and flogged the corpse, but it was impossible to restore the Liao Kingdom, whose building was about to collapse.

Fan Ning put down the report and asked again: "How is the financial situation of the Liao Kingdom?"

Guo Kui smiled, "The young and middle-aged Han people were basically driven away to mine and smelt iron. The whole Youzhou's commerce and agriculture were in a state of decline. Yang Gui, who sent us information, paid [-] guan to avoid being arrested for mining. The Liao Kingdom used this method to blackmail the Han people, and it extorted a lot of money. The wealth accumulated by the Han people for several generations was deprived of it, and the Jurchen clan was wiped out, and a lot of cattle and sheep were obtained. After the Kret tribe surrendered, The Liao Kingdom squeezed Tiele's ministries aggressively, and the financial situation improved for a while, maybe this is called killing the chicken to get the eggs!"

Fan Ning thought for a while and said, "Are all the warships that the Liao Kingdom wants ready?"

"Twenty ships have been delivered, and the remaining eighty ships have almost been remodeled, and will be delivered slowly."

"Has it been seen?"

"I heard that some old shipwrights discovered the clues, but Yelu Yixin's son was personally responsible for receiving the goods. All the boatwrights who discovered the clues were killed, and no one dared to speak nonsense."

The warships sold to the Liao Kingdom were all rebuilt from the warships of the Five Dynasties. The inner layer was made of rotten wood, and the outer layer was covered with a thin layer of ship skin. This kind of ship would fall apart when encountering strong winds and waves. The Yuan Dynasty was ready to attack The ship Japan was on was this kind of rotten ship built by Koryo merchants, but the entire army was destroyed when it encountered wind and waves.

Fan Ning thought for a while and said, "Speed ​​up the supply to Liao, and deliver all of them before next summer."

Fanning had an intuition that the war would probably come soon.

Leaving the Privy Council, Fan Ning went to see the Empress Dowager again. Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager Cao fell ill and was resting in the palace.

Hearing that Fan Ning was coming, Zhao Xu personally came to greet him at the door of the Imperial Study Room, which made Fan Ning a little flattered.

In fact, it is not surprising. Not long after Fan Ning went to sea, the Liao Kingdom came to claim the interests of Xixia, and even a small-scale war broke out. How will one step go?
Everyone knows very well that the flags and drums of the Liao Kingdom died down not because of the toughness of the Song Dynasty, but because of the coming of winter.

Zhao Xu was also uneasy. Although the intelligence department would send the latest information to his desk every day, it was still difficult to understand the insecurity in Zhao Xu's heart. After all, the Song Dynasty had been suppressed by the Liao Kingdom for hundreds of years, and the fear of the Liao Kingdom had been deeply rooted in his bones. .

When Zhao Xu learned that the Liao Kingdom had wiped out the Jurchens and regained the Keled Ministry, his sense of insecurity became even stronger. At this time, Fan Ning's return undoubtedly made Zhao Xu seem to have caught a life-saving log.

Fan Ning sat down in the imperial study and smiled at Zhao Xu: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that our tactics of fortifying the wall and clearing the field in the north of Hebei are still effective. This is very clear to the Liao Kingdom. The next battlefield will not be in Hebei. The dispatch of troops from the Datong Mansion has actually revealed some intentions of the Liao Kingdom. If they attack the Song Dynasty again, they will probably take the front line of Taiyuan and break through Hedong. Your Majesty, the armistice agreement has actually been torn up, and the Liao Dynasty will send troops at any time."

"When does Ai Qing think the Liao Kingdom will send troops?"

Fan Ning pondered for a while and said, "Wei Chen thinks it will probably be next summer."

"why?"

"Your Majesty must first know why the Liao Kingdom sent troops. The reason is very simple. The Liao Kingdom's financial resources have been exhausted. Although they have obtained no income by plundering the wealth of the Han people in Youzhou and the Tiele people in the grassland, this is killing chickens and taking eggs, and they can't support them." how long.

Wei Chen estimates that this wealth can support the Liao Kingdom for about half a year. When they collect taxes in the spring, they will find that they will not receive anything, and the Liao Kingdom will fall into panic. Without the wealth imported from the Song Dynasty and Xixia, they will not be able to support it at all. With a huge army, the only way is to launch a war abroad and rely on plundering the Song Dynasty to tide over the difficulties. This will be the unanimous consensus of the Liao Kingdom. Considering the time for the army to assemble, I believe that May and June may most sexual. "

"Then how do we deal with it?"

"It's very simple, defending from the west and attacking from the east. We will stick to the front line of Taiyuan and launch an offensive on the eastern front. Using our navy advantage, we will continue to launch attacks in the east and wipe out the population of Liao. Your Majesty, as long as we can persist for a year, the people of Liao The national power is bound to collapse, and this is the ultimate goal of these humble ministers in promoting the national power war."

Zhao Xu was relieved by Fan Ning's words. In fact, several Xiangguo also put forward similar ideas, but their words were not as convincing as Fan Ning, and Zhao Xu was convinced.

Zhao Xu walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "Then the focus of the next step is to fully improve the defense capabilities of the cities in Hedong, and move the people southward like Hebei did."

"Your Majesty, I have two suggestions!"

"you say!"

"The first suggestion is to relocate the people of Taiyuan Prefecture to the south according to His Majesty's wishes, and the people in the county seat will be transferred to Taiyuan City to strengthen the defense of Taiyuan City, and then focus on building the defense line of Shuque Valley. As long as the Liao Army cavalry If we can't break through this line of defense, Jinnan will be safe, and the Liao army will definitely attack Taiyuan with all its strength, so we will use Taiyuan City to hold back the main force of the Liao army."

Zhao Xu nodded, "What about the second suggestion?"

"Your Majesty, the second suggestion is to settle down before fighting against the outside world. I heard that the imperial court is arguing about the education reform. I suggest that this kind of quarrel be ended as soon as possible. Everyone should focus on the war against the Liao Kingdom. "

"Is Aiqing asking me to put aside the new education law?"

"Your Majesty, Wang Xianggong's reforms are not all detrimental to the country. In fact, I am very supportive of the education law introduced this time. Not all scholars go to learn Confucianism. If the Song Dynasty wants to become powerful, some people need to learn agriculture, and some people need to learn Some people study medicine, some study engineering, some study astronomy and geography, some study algorithms, and establish various specialized schools to allow talents from all walks of life to emerge in large numbers. We believe that many insightful people will support this bill."

Zhao Xu sighed, "Actually, I also support this reform bill, but it's really difficult for ministers to put on the label of condescending Confucianism!"

"Your Majesty, as I said just now, I believe that many people of insight will support this bill. I am afraid that many people will oppose it. It is wrong for people!"

"You mean, it's because of Wang Xianggong?"

Fan Ning nodded, "I think this is the reason. If Your Majesty trusts me, I can give it a try. I will propose this reform plan."

"Then what is Ai Qing going to do?"

"Just follow Weichen's previous method, starting with newspaper debates and unifying consensus."

Zhao Xu pondered for a moment and said: "After the education reform bill is over, all reforms will be suspended, and the whole country will go all out to deal with the Liao Kingdom."

(End of this chapter)