Qian Song

Chapter 149 Tong Guan: Don't fight, we need to discuss things (show monthly pass!)

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Knowing that Fang Layi's army had been completely wiped out, Tong Guan, who was under tremendous psychological pressure, could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

——It has been more than nine months since he received the task of suppressing bandits in the first month, and Tong Guan has finally achieved a result that he can explain to Zhao Ji.

In Tong Guan's mind, since Fang La has been wiped out, there is no possibility that Li Cun will not be wiped out when the Song army on the western front advances eastward and flanks the Song army on the northern front.

In that way, his Tong Guan could be considered to have made great contributions to the Zhao Song Dynasty. It is definitely not enough to be crowned king, but it is not too much to give him a duke. After all, he was Tong Guan who saved the Zhao Song Dynasty. half of the country.

Just when Tong Guan was imagining that Zhao Ji would give him a title, someone suddenly came to report that Ma Xuanzan had returned and asked to see Minister Xuan, and said that looking at Ma Xuanzan, he seemed very anxious.

Hearing that Ma Kuo was back, Tong Guan couldn't help but frown.

Originally, when Zhao Song couldn't cross the river at all, Ma Kuo was able to recruit Niu Meng who was stationed in Jiangning Mansion, and helped the Song army create an opportunity to cross the river, which must have been a great contribution.

Even the fact that Ma Kuo offered Niu Meng too high a condition was not a big problem.

But the problem is that Niu Meng's ability is too poor, not to mention bringing the tiger and ben navy that Tong Guan was most looking forward to at that time, he didn't even bring much army and food.

It can be said that Niu Meng did not play any role except letting more than [-] Song soldiers cross the river and offering a tasteless Jinling City. It's not worth the high price that Ma Kuo charged him.

To be honest, even if Fang La or Li Cun accepted the imperial court's recruitment, it would be impossible for them to get such generous terms as Niu Meng.

But then again, although Ma Kuo was a little edgy, he was someone who wanted to do things after all.

And doing things may make mistakes, only those who do not do things will never make mistakes.

So people who want to do things have to be given the opportunity to make mistakes.

Thinking of this, Tong Guan said: "Call him in."

As soon as the messenger went down, Ma Kuo rushed in with great strides.

Seeing this, Tong Guan shook his head secretly: "It's too frizzy, no wonder he likes to be eager for success when doing things."

Before Tong Guan opened his mouth to educate Ma Kuo, Ma Kuo took the lead and said, "Mr. Xuan, something is wrong!"

Hearing this, Tong Guan frowned even tighter, and he asked casually, "What happened to make you so anxious?"

Ma Kuo said bluntly: "Liu Yanqing's troops have been ordered to be wiped out by Li Cun!"

"?"

Tong Guan felt as if he had heard a joke that was impossible to happen.

"Could it be that I heard wrong?"

Tong Guan couldn't believe his own ears, so he checked again: "What did you say?"

This is already on fire, how can Ma Kuo be in the mood to ask and answer Tong Guan little by little?
Ma Kuo hurriedly reported to Tong Guan what happened after Liu Yanqing crossed the river, and how Liu Yanqing's troops were wiped out by Li Cun.

Tong Guan was shocked: "How can a group of ants and thieves be so powerful that they can wipe out my army of more than [-] elite soldiers in the Song Dynasty?!"

Ma Kuo said: "Since I crossed the river, I reported this matter to Prime Minister Xuan, and urged him to quickly recruit 20 sailors to train the navy in Jingzhou, and recruit another [-] new troops to prepare for a long-term battle with Li Cun. Yuwen Daizhi once said that Li Cunqi was a genius, wise and strategic, open-minded, good at knowing people, and happy to use them. He is a capable minister in governing the world and a treacherous minister in troubled times. Use the power of the whole country to kill him, otherwise he will be a big trouble for my confidant in the Song Dynasty. However, Minister Xuan and others thought that Yuwen Daizhi was casting a shadow on Li Cun, so the alarmist words were heard. Now they are all under Yuwen Daizhi's words, and Xuan is quite Beware of Li Cun leading an army across the river, or even sending troops directly to the capital."

Listening to Ma Kuo's judgment that Li Cun may lead the army directly across the river, or even directly lead the army to attack Bianliang City in Tokyo, Tong Guan's cold sweat burst out all of a sudden.

No one knows Zhao Song's reality better than Tong Guan.

Besides those troops on the western front, does Zhao Song have any troops at present?
Have.

And not a lot.

The first is Northwest Sixth Road, namely Xihe Road, Qinfeng Road, Jingyuan Road, Huanqing Road, and Yanyan Road, plus Yongxingjun Road in the interior of Guanzhong.

Due to the need to fight against Xixia, where all the people are soldiers, the Northwest Sixth Road can be said to be all the people are soldiers, as many as there are, and in some places even women and children can participate in the war.

This is also one of the reasons why Tong Guan dared to draw a large number of Western troops to fight.

——As long as Xixia dares to invade the Northwest Sixth Road, the people of the Northwest Sixth Road will help the Western Army defend the Northwest.

The people in the northwest are so powerful, why not transfer 50, no, transfer 100 million, and the matter in the southeast will be solved easily?

Where is it so easy?
First of all, the people in Northwest Liulu have a strong sense of locality, so it is extremely difficult for them to stay at home and fight whatever they want. It is extremely difficult to go out to fight.

Secondly, do you know how much it will cost to form an army of 100 million, no, even if it is only 50?
According to calculations by Cai Xiang, who was the envoy of the third division at the time, in the early years of Emperor Yingzong of Song Dynasty, there were more than 110 million imperial troops and Xiang soldiers in Zhao and Song Dynasties. cord.

Based on this calculation, forming an army of 50 will cost an extra 2000 million yuan a year.

The key is that it takes time.

Now if they recruit in a hurry, the Northwest can at most draw another 15 to 20 troops that can go to war.

But in that case, Zhao Song's defense force in the northwest would be almost zero.

Some people may want to say that it is enough to leave the defense completely to the people, and the Northwest Sixth Route is not all the people are soldiers.

It is true that all the people are soldiers, but no matter what you say, the people are just people, they can only serve as support, and they have to be led by a real army, so that they can resist the invasion of Xixia, otherwise they will be a mess.

Therefore, if the frontier defense of the Northwest Sixth Route is considered, the Northwest Sixth Route may not be able to transfer a single soldier in a short time.

So apart from the Western Army, Zhao Song had no other army?

Have.

Of course there are.

How could the Zhao Song Dynasty, with a population of hundreds of millions, have only this little army?
In addition to the Western Army, Zhao Song also had two major military regions, the Hebei Forbidden Army and the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army.

Ordinarily, the Hebei Forbidden Army has at least hundreds of thousands of troops.

But for one thing, the Hebei Forbidden Army has just transferred [-] troops to the northwest region.

Secondly, the Forbidden Army in Hebei is now the place where the Zhao and Song Dynasties are most underpaid.

Thirdly, the Hebei Forbidden Army will also defend the Liao Kingdom.

Fourth, the Hebei Forbidden Army has not fought a war for hundreds of years, and the current real combat effectiveness may not be as good as that of the Jiangnan Forbidden Army.

In a word, the Hebei Imperial Army cannot be expected.

Let's talk about the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army.

Under the hard work of Gao Qiu Gao Taiwei, the soldiers of the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army have mastered good skills.

Military skills?
of course not.

It is building skills such as building palaces and rockeries.

You heard me right.

Gao Qiu turned the supposedly most elite central army of the Zhao Song Dynasty into hundreds of thousands of craftsmen, who were specially used to help Zhao Ji's construction work.

The soldiers of the current Gyeonggi Forbidden Army must not be able to fight, but they are number one in the country in terms of expanding the palace and building Genyue Longevity Mountain.

Of course, Gao Qi was not so stupid that he didn't keep any Gyeonggi forbidden troops who could fight, so they were all sent to Jiangnan to suppress the rebellion.

By the way, there is also the Jiangnan Forbidden Army, but the Jiangnan Forbidden Army was either wiped out by Li Cun, Fang La, or other insurgents. Even if there is still a little in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas, they will not be able to get through if Li Cun is in the middle. On the contrary, Jingzhou still has a little bit, but those who have been transferred to the Song army on the western front have long been transferred by Zhong Shidao.

Knowing this, when you look at it again, it seems that in the huge Zhao and Song Dynasty, only Tong Guan's [-] to [-] victorious army can fight in the north.

But Li Cun was able to wipe out more than [-] Western troops and the elite of the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army. Can Tong Guan's [-] to [-] victorious Czech army be able to stop Li Cun's Huben army?

If even Tong Guan's Shengjie army can't stop Li Cun's Huben army, wouldn't Tokyo Bianliang City be the same as sending Li Cun off? !

Also, the original overall strength of the Song Army on the Western Front was stronger than that of the Song Army on the Northern Front, but don't forget that the Song Army on the Western Front has just wiped out nearly a million Fanglayi troops. How much combat power does it have left now?Will it be worse than the Northern Song Army that was wiped out by Li Cun?
A thought quickly flashed through Tong Guan's mind: "We can't fight any more, we absolutely can't fight any more, if the fight continues, Da Song will perish!"

……

The next day, Xin Qizong, the border guard of Yangzi Town, suddenly sent a report saying that the governor of Huben Army sent envoy Chen Kuutong and deputy envoy Tian Maung to visit.

This appearance was originally detained by Tong Guan because Zhao Song wanted to protect Yuwen Huangzhong.

But later, with the development of the situation, the appearance of the field has become irrelevant, so Tong Guan let the appearance of the field go.

Tong Guan had never detained Tian Maang, his family had already boarded the thief boat, and he didn't want to stay with Zhao Song anymore. What's more, Tong Guan detained Tian Maang without even asking, obviously Just don't trust Tian Maang.

In this way, Tian Maung of course found an opportunity to sneak across the river to vote for Li Cun.

No.

It cannot be said to vote for Li Cun.

It should be said that Tian Maang, who had completed the task of releasing the news, took the initiative to return to his sister-in-law's subordinates to become a high-ranking official.

Li Cun did not disappoint Tian Maang. After Tian Maang went back, Li Cun asked Tian Maang to go to Li Cao's subordinate Honghe Temple to be the young minister of Honghe Temple. , Isn't this much better than running errands for Tong Guan and the others at Zhao Song's side?
Especially now that Li Cun had just completely wiped out the Song army on the northern front, and it was obvious that Tian Maang, a fourth-rank official, might become a real senior fourth-rank official.

In addition, Tian Jing's younger sister Tian Jing was pregnant with Li Cun's child not long ago.

Tian Maung, and even the entire Tian family, have completely settled down.

Tong Guan did not pursue the traitor Tian Maang, let alone think that Tian Maang was one of the accomplices who destroyed their Zhao Song ship, but pretended not to know Tian Maang, and arranged for Ma Kuo and Xuanfu driver Yi Zhu Yantong As the embassy envoy, he was responsible for receiving Chen Kuutong and Tian Maung.

After Chen Kuutong and Tian Maang came to Yangzhou Xuanfu Division, they first handed a letter from Li Cun to Tong Guan.

Li Cun said in this letter:

"Li Cun, the governor of the Huben Army, wrote a letter to His Excellency Xuanfu Tongguan in the Song Dynasty: The Zhao family was cowardly, and paid old coins to Khitan and the party, so that the country's prestige was lost, the society fell into ruin, and miscellaneous taxes were as many as crucian carp crossing the river. Let the people in the southeast of our country live without living. Since we rely on letters and return to the emissary's voice, but we have not received sincerity, it is difficult to avoid troublesome discussions. The matter has come to this point, and we must go to war. In vain, it is to send people to repay you..."

——The meaning of Li Cun's letter is very simple, it is to tell Tong Guan that I am going to beat you across the river, you are ready to prepare, let's not hurt civilians, as for the reason why I beat you is that the Zhao family is cowardly and innocent. Excessive extravagance has made my people in the southeast unable to survive. I want to punish the people and punish crimes.

After reading it, Tong Guan was shocked, and hurriedly said: "The matter between you and me needs to be discussed. Why are you here?"

What Tong Guan said was actually a bit shameless.

Now Zhao Song came to fight Li Cun, and he didn't discuss with Li Cun before the fight.

But the good side is that Tong Guan is willing to use the word "two families", which means that Tong Guan is already aware of the seriousness of the matter.

Chen Kuutong smiled lightly, but did not speak.

Tian Maung, on the other hand, said very forcefully: "Your family attacked my family, but you were defeated, and your northern army was completely wiped out by my family's governor. Now my family's army and horses have been raised, and we will cross the river in a few days. What is there to discuss?"

Who is Tong Guan, how can he not see, who is the one who has the final say between Chen Kuutong and Tian Maang?

Tong Guan, who hadn't been polite to anyone other than Zhao Ji for a long time, clasped his fist at Chen Kuutong for the first time, and said, "Ambassador Chen gave Tong a certain word, and there is room for discussion on this matter. If so, Tong Guan I will try my best to get you and my family to stop fighting, if not, Tong will go back to Beijing and go to the palace, and the whole country will recruit millions of soldiers to fight your family again."

Chen Kuutong knew that Tong Guan was bluffing.

But then again, when Zhao Song was about to perish, what Tong Guan said was really not trying to scare people.

Chen Kuotong, who knew Li Cun's bottom line, said: "If your family is sincere, this matter can be discussed."

As soon as Tong Guan heard that there was a door, he said: "The companion of the library will go to the two of you to discuss, if there is something to do, but you can see the order, and you can respond."

This is actually a routine operation. If something happens, the people below have to discuss it and report it to the boss. If the bosses on both sides think it's okay, they will come forward and go through the motions. Isn't this the case throughout the ages.

After Chen Kuutong and Tian Maung left Xuanfu Division, they were invited to the post house.

Soon, Ma Kuo and Zhu Yantong came.

As soon as they met, Zhu Yantong, who was not rich enough in the city, hurriedly asked: "Most of your family's governor said to raise troops, what do you mean?"

Tian Maung continued to sing bad faces: "The army has already risen, so there is no need to discuss it. In a few days, my family's great governor will personally bring a million troops across the river. You and I can see each other on the battlefield."

Zhu Yantong hated Tian Maang, a fat man, why didn't he see that Tian Maang, who was naive and naive, had such an annoying side?
Besides, you brag about your appearance and don't make drafts. Where did your great governor go to steal that million-dollar army?
But the situation is different, and Zhu Yantong also knows that the Huben Army has just wiped out more than [-] elite Song soldiers from Liu Yanqing's department, and now the ant thieves of the Huben Army are already trembling.

Zhu Yantong suppressed the resentment towards Tian Maang in his heart, and said kindly: "You and my two families have the same roots. If there is a big fight, the foreigner will become the fisherman. If we can discuss it, why should the two of you be the relatives?" It’s a quick thing for those who hurt enemies, but this principle?”

Hearing what Zhu Yantong said, Chen Kuopong let go and said, "It's only because Zhao is immoral."

Ma Kuo said: "Soldiers are murderous weapons, and the law of heaven hates them. Your family swallowed up a lot of land in my dynasty, so you should be content. Our dynasty is a big country with a vast world and unlimited soldiers and civilians. If the court realizes it and makes a slight change, it must not be your family. But the enemy, if we don't stop fighting now, when will we be able to fight in the future?"

Tian Maung said: "My superintendent, who is like a fairy, has already figured out that your family has no soldiers and horses except for the meager army of Fangla's million-dollar army that just narrowly defeated Fangla on the western front. He just doesn't want to cook beans and burn Osmunda, calling foreigners..."

"cough!"

Chen Kuupong coughed lightly, and then said: "This is the case, what am I waiting for here to argue? The terms of the peace negotiation have already been agreed with your family, and you only need to cut off the eight lands south of the Dajiang River, with the Dajiang River as the boundary. Marrying your concubine Maode Diji and my family's chief governor as concubines, saving and withdrawing from Zhao Song's ancestral temple and community, will be able to serve the country."

Ma Kuo threatened: "It seems that most of your family's supervisors listen to crazy and rebellious words, but take this dynasty lightly, but it is not a small ear to fear future disasters!"

Chen Kuutong smiled slightly: "The condition has been opened, you two should report to Tong Xuan for comfort."

Ma Kuo and Zhu Yantong saw that they could no longer talk, so they left the posthouse and returned to the Xuanfu Division, where they reported to Tong Guan in detail.

Tong Guan was astonished. He really didn't expect that Li Cun's appetite was so big that he wanted Liangzhe Road, Fujian Road, Jiangnan East Road, Jiangnan West Road, Guangnan East Road, Guangnan West Road, Jinghu South Road, Jingnan Road The territory of the eight roads of Hubei Road, and Zhao Fujin, who is married and has two children? !
Tong Guan hurriedly ordered Ma Kuo and Zhu Yantong to list their confessions and prepare them overnight.

Then, Tong Guan held an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures with his advisers.

Everyone discussed and discussed, and everyone reached a consensus, that is, this war can no longer be fought, and Tong Guan must return to Beijing to report to the palace...

……

……

I didn't sleep all night, and I have been writing until now before writing this chapter.

I beg you to see how hard I have worked so hard, please reward me with a monthly pass.

　When uploading, because my eyes were dazed, I asked for a monthly ticket, and I made a monthly ticket, but I still didn’t allow it to be changed, alas~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)