The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Weizhou City is busy preparing for war, and Daxia Huizhou City, more than 180 miles north of Weizhou, is also a scene of war preparations.

The time goes back to [-] days ago. Ever since Li Ningming, the Prince of Great Xia, was captured by Su Jin, and Li Yuanhao received Li Jiqian's report, he immediately summoned his highness and ministers to discuss countermeasures. Li Yuanhao didn't come to listen to everyone's opinions. He came to give orders.

The first imperial decree is: Immediately abolish Li Ningming as the crown prince, and replace the crown prince with his second son, Li Ningling, to completely smash the Song Dynasty's attempt to use Li Ningming as a hostage or to make words and deeds that are unfavorable to Daxia; I admire him very much, very few people can abandon their own son so simply, because doing so is equivalent to sending Li Ningming to the guillotine with his own hands, a worthless son of an enemy, his fate can be imagined with his ass.

The purpose of the second edict is two words: revenge!

Li Yuanhao thought that he had suppressed the Song people so that they could not move. In the past six months, the cavalry of the Great Xia was as common as the Song Dynasty. They would lead their troops into the Song Dynasty for a stroll if they had nothing to do. They also dare not attack the city walls easily. The Song army’s city walls are very strong, and the range of bows and arrows is both long and strong. Attacking the city is tantamount to asking for trouble, but even if they don’t fight, this sense of satisfaction is enough to boost morale .

It's like a robber entering someone else's yard. The owner knows that the robbers are peeing and shitting in the yard, but they can only hide in the house and watch. It is an unspeakable shame for the owner, but for the robbers Words are a kind of supercilious confidence.

The first order won the approval of all the officials, but when the second order was issued, it immediately attracted the opposition of most of the officials. Among them, the most fierce opposition came from the brothers Ye Li, a foreign relative. Their name is Yeli Wangrong, they are the two elder brothers of Queen Yeli. These two are the leaders of the strongest Yeli tribe in the Dangxiang tribe. His loyal supporter and most reliable right-hand man, at the moment, respectively serve as the president-commander of the left and right armies, and are known as the two kings of Yeli.

But today, the opposition of these two people is the most intense. The reason for their opposition is that since the emperor has appointed a new crown prince, the influence of Li Ningming's capture has been eliminated, and it is a sense of loyalty to deliberately retaliate for a Li Ningming who has no effect. Act of.

Moreover, the deeper reason is that the Great Xia Kingdom seems to be unable to withstand the consumption of a major war. In the four years since the war, men from all tribes in the Great Xia have been transferred to join the army. In most parts of the country, only women, children and children are left to suffer. Hard to support production, countless fields are barren, and the number of cattle, sheep and horses is also sharply reduced due to the lack of manpower. Moisturizing, on the contrary, has regressed to the point where you can't even drink tea, a basic luxury of life.

Tea and cloth were originally traded with the Song Dynasty. Nowadays, there is "no tea to drink, no clothes to wear", fur and green salt are piled up like mountains, but due to the cessation of trade, Song people eat sea salt instead, and Song people have cotton clothes without fur. During the winter, when you were proclaiming your vassals to the Song Dynasty, not only could you exchange furs and green salt for food, tea, cloth and other things every year, but also every year the Song court would give you ten thousand taels of silver, tens of thousands of guan, and twenty thousand catties of tea. Gone.

Faced with such a situation, as the leader of the tribe, the Yeli brothers naturally felt the pain. The warriors of the tribe died in battle. The warriors were born to fight, and after death, they will be reborn.But in the current situation, the food for the army cannot be guaranteed, and the women and children staying behind will not have enough food and clothing. After autumn and October, a heavy snowfall may freeze thousands of people to death. Many people, if many people starve to death and freeze to death, it would be a great shame.

So when Da Yuanhao was about to call for a big battle again, the Ye Li brothers were so angry that this brother-in-law was too happy, completely letting his temper go, he likes to bully men and women, and likes to kill people indiscriminately Forget it, after all, this is not a fatal shortcoming for a man and a king, but completely ignoring the domestic situation and going his own way blindly, this is childish behavior.

Facing the opposition from the Ye Li brothers, Li Yuanhao was very angry, but he knew very well in his heart that half of his country was supported by Ye Li Yuqi and Ye Li Wangrong. In the whole territory, I will never be the emperor in Xingqing mansion comfortably no matter what. Even if there is a war with the Song Dynasty, the main force is still in the hands of these two people. no.

How Li Yuanhao wished that he could shout loudly: "Who dares to object to immediate beheading." But no matter how much he wanted to say this in his heart, he still smiled and explained to Brother Yeli.

"I understand both of you, and I know what you're talking about. Last month, you wrote a letter to release some of the troops to go back to farming. It's the season of farming and grazing. We should really fill up our granaries. Let our cattle and sheep grow fat; both sides are already tired after this battle, and someone wrote a letter suggesting a truce with Song, and I think it's time."

Ye Li Yuqi cupped his hands and said, "In this case, why didn't the emperor send someone to the Song Dynasty to discuss the intention of stopping the army and making peace? Since the emperor knows the situation in the country, how can you not feel worried? If this continues, this year Winter must be a winter of hunger and cold, and I am afraid that there will be chaos because of this, and it will be too late to regret."

Li Yuanhao suppressed the urge to slap the table, and sighed: "It's easy to say, but is it that easy to make peace? We also need to pay attention to the timing and method of making peace. The right time and the right method will benefit me a lot. If we cease war with the Song State, we will squeeze something out of the Song State, otherwise, making peace means surrendering to the Song people, and I absolutely cannot lose this face."

Yeli Wangrong said: "Your Majesty, what do you think is the right way to make peace? You want conditions, and you want to gather troops to attack the Song Dynasty. Is this good for peace?"

Li Yuanhao said: "You don't understand this. It is useless to talk about peace with the Song Dynasty. You all know that the words of the Song Dynasty are better than thousands of troops. Our party members can only talk with swords and guns. On the battlefield Seeing the truth, if you talk to them, you will lose, but how to make the Song people shut up obediently, accept our conditions and dare not bargain, only rely on an overwhelming victory to make the Song people understand that our peace with them is a charity, not a bargain. Helpless, this way we can obtain more favorable conditions, and I am also thinking about the interests of Great Xia."

The Yeli brothers were thoughtful, what Li Yuanhao said was not unreasonable, peace talks after a big victory would be more decent and beneficial to Da Xia, as the saying goes, whoever fights hard and who is in the middle The waist on the negotiating table was even straighter. Li Yuanhao took the opportunity to retaliate this time, in fact, he wanted to end the war between the two countries with a big victory and a decent end. This is also a clever strategy.

Seeing that Brother Yeli seemed to be touched, Li Yuanhao hurriedly said, "Two commanders, after this battle, I agree to your request to return to the army and farm, and I will immediately negotiate peace with the Song people. Let's rest for three to five years until the time is right. Then attack the Great Song Dynasty, when the time comes, I will let the two commanders one be the king of Bianliang and the other be the king of Yingtian, so that you can enjoy the rest of your life."

Ye Liyu begged and sighed: "The king of Bianliang should be the king of heaven, my two brothers dare not ask extravagantly. If we can really accomplish the great cause of reunification, the two of us will naturally be disarmed and return to the fields to ride horses and herd cattle and sheep. It's also very satisfying; anyway, what the emperor said is not unreasonable, we will vote for the people of Song Dynasty and hurt them, which will be more beneficial to the peace negotiation."

Li Yuanhao breathed a sigh of relief. The two agreed, and other people's objections are meaningless. If there is any objection, Li Yuanhao will cut off his head without hesitation; Li Yuanhao also made up his mind to find an opportunity to get rid of it. These two people, these two people are indeed important to me, but they are also my biggest threat and obstacle. I must not let these two people control my actions and treat myself like a puppet.