The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

On the day when the city of Raozhou on the Shangjing Road of the Liao Kingdom was broken, the defense line of Waqiaoguan and Yijinguan in the Great Song Dynasty was finally broken. The superior Liao army relied on excellent siege equipment and crowd tactics plus a surprise attack in the middle of the night to finally open the Song Dynasty. The gap in the defense line; Fan Zhongyan quickly ordered to retreat to the second line of defense, abandoning Baozhou, retreating to Qizhou, Mozhou, and Yingzhou.

At the same time, bad news also came from the western front. Ninghua, Baodezhou, Fengzhou, and Fuzhou fell one after another. Zhouzhou, Lanzhou, and Taiyuan Prefecture.

On the frontal battlefield, the two sides fought fiercely for nearly a month. The number of casualties exceeded [-]. Daizhou, the city of Song Dynasty at the junction of the two armies, comforted the generals.

The people of the Liao celebrated with joy and glory, while the people of the Song Dynasty were in panic. The two lines of defense that had been built for many years were broken. It is conceivable that the Liao army will drive in like a broken bamboo. When the Liao army converges, it will be the city of Bianliang At a critical time.

Zhao Zhen issued several imperial edicts to reprimand Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi, and to investigate the reasons for the fall. Some ministers in the court also wrote letters to accuse Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi of this battle. [

Zhang Yaozuo, the governor of the Kaifeng Prefecture, the doctor of the Ministry of War, even uttered nonsense in the court, saying that this was the most shameful war since the founding of the Song Dynasty. In the face of the enemy, he still led an army of 20 to nowhere. This move was suspicious of hiding evil intentions.

With Zhang Yaozuo as the leader, a large number of people jumped out to support the proposal. Han Jiang, the Minister of Justice, Chen Yi, Zhang Zhihuan, Sima Rong, a doctor of the Ministry of Officials, and officials from other departments were all angry in the court, pointing their finger at Su Jin. The strategy of dividing troops around the rear and making a surprise attack.

Zhao Zhen's heart was also slightly shaken, but his IQ was not low enough to really doubt Su Jin's motives. The strategy proposed by Su Jin was approved by himself, and he also believed that Su Jin would never make a wrong decision on the survival of the country. The state of Song is finished, and Su Jin has no benefit at all; as for the other meaning implied in the words of Zhang Yaozuo and others, Zhao Zhen only listens to him as a fart, and from that perspective, Su Jin will never be so Do.

Faced with the uproar, Yan Shu and Du Yan unexpectedly kept the same line, angrily reprimanded the group of jumping clowns in court, and at the same time asked Zhao Zhen to punish them.

Zhao Zhen remained neutral, and terminated the discussion on strategic mistakes and correctness. In Zhao Zhen's words, whether the words of support and opposition are fierce or biased, it is a kind of opinion after all, and it cannot be because of disagreement Then punish it.

Yan Shuyi argued with Zhao Zhen that he should have been severely punished for slandering the leading general at this time, but Zhao Zhen's partiality for Zhang Yaozuo was obvious, and Zhang Yaozuo, who had recently been promoted quickly, was exactly Thanks to the assistance of Zhao Zhen's bedside concubine Zhang Guifei, maybe in the near future, he will become another powerful minister in the court.

Yan Shu really wanted to find an opportunity to remind Zhao Zhen of the identity of Zhang Yaozuo's relatives, but Yan Shu was a conservative and tactful person, so he always hoped that someone else would talk about it. There is no need to rush.

"Let Fan Zhongyan go to Beijing to report the military situation, and give a statement on the failure." Zhao Zhen is eager to know how bad the current situation is, and whether he should go to the south of Jiangning Mansion to patrol the south of Jiangning Mansion when necessary, as Su Jin told himself before leaving The reason for avoiding disaster, thinking about it now, maybe Su Jin had expected the result of the breach of the defense line.

"Your Majesty, in the current situation, it is better not to find Fan Han and the other two. When the war begins, the second line of defense will start to be built. Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi should be ready. Judging from the military report sent by the two of them , The tone of the two people is not anxious. If there is a danger of endangering Bianliang, how can they not warn in advance? Now is the time when the war is tense, so it is better not to let them rush back and forth to delay military affairs." Yan Shu played.

"Yan Xiang, you can't gamble with the safety of the emperor and the capital. If something happens, you and I will be sinners through the ages." Zhang Yaozuo regarded himself as a person, and his tone seemed to be the central official of the court.

Yan Shu chuckled and said, "This old man and Shumi Du are responsible for what happened, and you, the magistrate of the Kaifeng Prefecture, are not in charge. However, there have been a lot of rumors in the capital recently. You should do your duty well. If something happens in the capital, "Riot", I'm afraid you won't be able to get away with it."

Zhang Yaozuo's face turned red, and Yan Shu's words were stinging, mocking him for his high self-esteem in his official position, Zhang Yaozuo wanted to refute, but then he said in his heart: sooner or later, I will take your position, and I will argue with you then .

Zhao Zhen coughed and said, "Since Yan Xiang is so confident, I am also full of confidence. Victory and defeat are commonplace in the military. A temporary loss is nothing, but the Political Affairs Hall and the Privy Council will order Fan Han to stop any further mistakes. If there is a chance, we need to regain the lost ground.”

Yan Shu and Du Yantong claimed it was, Zhao Zhen sighed and said, "I really want to know where Su Jin's army is now."

Yan Shu said: "The minister and Du Shumi request to see you after the court."

Zhao Zhen knew in his heart that he was going to discuss the matter of Su Jin's army, and he didn't want to talk about it in public, so he immediately announced his resignation and hurriedly invited Yan Shu and Du Yan to the side hall to meet him; Yan Shu took out a bamboo tube to send Su Jin The military information sent by Feige's letter was handed over to Zhao Zhen; Zhao Zhen quickly read it, slapped his thigh happily, and said happily: "Sure enough, you have entered the Shangjing Road and won Huaizhou."

Yan Shu smiled and cupped his hands and said, "Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor, Huaizhou has captured, and the next target is either Qingzhou or Raozhou. According to the time, it will take five or six days to arrive on the Feige road. It should be already at this time." We have won the second city, and then we will go to Beijing, the old nest of the Liao people, and we have to see who takes whose old nest first."

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but said, "No wonder you are confident in the hall, why didn't you tell me this news earlier?"

Yan Shu said: "I just arrived in the morning, so I can't say anything in class. Su Jin specifically told me to keep it secret, for fear that the Liao people would spy on me and reveal my intention early."

Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "Okay, what a Su Jin, I was really worried just now, but now it seems that I should sit firmly in the capital. As long as Han and Fan can hold on, it will be a favorable situation. Liao people You will know internal "chaos" sooner or later, but whether to withdraw troops or not depends on Su Jin's ability."

Yan Shu said: "Exactly, it is necessary to take the capital. Your Majesty, if Yelu Zong's real mother, queen, concubine and son are taken away in one pot, then Yelu Zong really won't go crazy?"

Zhao Zhen laughed loudly and said: "It depends on whether Su Jin has this means. The day when the Liao army withdraws to save itself is the time for our army to counterattack. Now we just need to hold on."

Du Yan said in a deep voice: "This is exactly the reason, and this is also an established policy. The emperor must not be instigated to mess up the square inch. I want to mobilize the Xiang army from the south, west and north of Beijing to go north, although there are only 5 troops. People, but they are deployed in the northeast of the capital, and they can feel at ease, please allow the emperor to agree."

Zhao Zhen waved his hand and said: "You go and do it. I was in a very low mood today, but now I feel much better. The two lovers have worked hard. Yan Xiang wrote an edict for me to encourage Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi. The words of the previous edict were a little more intense. , I'm afraid the two of them might be a bit stuck."

Yan Shu and Du Yan cupped their hands together and said, "Observe the order!"

……

The kings and ministers of the Great Song Dynasty were struggling back and forth, and Yelu Zongzhen, the leader of the Liao Dynasty in Daizhou City, was also furious. Originally, he had summoned Yelu Zhongyuan and Xiao Hui to come to Daizhou to reward the victory of breaking both the east and west defense lines. On the night of Liaozhou, a shocking news came, which immediately shocked the Liao Kingdom's monarchs and officials.

"Damn Song people, who are as insidious and cunning as grassland foxes, actually use the Xia territory to attack my back. This "prostitute"." Yelu Zong cursed like a shrew in spite of his demeanor.

The officials under the tent were silent, and they spoke for a long time, Xiao Hui said softly: "There are various signs that the grassland looting east of Dasan Pass was done by the army of Song State led by Su Jin, but unfortunately our judgment was wrong at that time. I thought it was the Xia people taking advantage of the fire to rob."

Yelu Zong said angrily: "What's the use of saying this now? At the beginning I wanted to divide my troops to destroy them, but you didn't agree. Now it's all right, the knife has 'inserted' into my heart."

Xiao Hui said with embarrassment: "Afterwards, I sent people to investigate, and found that the buttocks of several enemy horses that died on the grassland were branded with the marks of Xia's war horses, so I decided that it was done by Xia people. Come on, Su Jin is too cunning, he must have deliberately falsified these evidences to confuse our judgment."

Emperor Taidi Yelu Chongyuan snorted contemptuously and said: "I am stupid because I am stupid, but I blame others for being smarter. A few dead horses have deceived you, the king of the North Court. There is no clue to go to the north with an army of 20. ? I don't believe it."

Xiao Hui said with difficulty: "It's not that I didn't investigate, it's just a trace that disappeared after the enemy's harassment. It is said that going to Shangjing Road needs to pass through the capitals of Beifeng Prefecture and Zhongjing Road, but after the enemy's harassment, they didn't leave this line at all. , so I am even more convinced that the Xia people withdrew to the country after the harassment."

Yeluzong said angrily: "Could it be that they have grown wings and flew to Huaizhou?"

Xiao Hui hurriedly said: "After thinking about it, there is only one way to go directly to Huaizhou, and that is to go north along Yunnei and pass through the desert; it seems that the Song people came prepared this time, and their goal is very clear. .”

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