Qian Song

Chapter 210 Zhao Ji's Last Struggle
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Politically, Zhao Ji moved out the nearly 80-year-old Cai Jing.

In terms of military affairs, Zhao Ji returned all the power that he had previously assigned to Tong Guan.

This combination was the combination that sent [-] troops to conquer the west at the beginning, regained the lost land of the Qing and Tang Dynasties, consolidated the frontier defense, enhanced the prestige of the Zhao Song Dynasty and Zhao Ji, and improved the international status of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Zhao Ji hopes that the three of them, the monarch and his ministers, can cooperate again to eliminate the internal and external troubles of the Zhao Song Dynasty and create brilliance again.

Tong Guan came to Taiyuan Xuanfu Division with Zhao Ji's ardent expectations, and took over the mess left by Tan Zhen.

Here, Tong Guan also carried out an order Zhao Ji gave Tong Guan, that is, to recruit Yelu Yanxi, the emperor of the Liao Kingdom.

Tong Guan's men found a fan monk for Tong Guan.

After Tong Guan's inspection, he recommended this fan monk to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji ordered the foreign monk to go to Yunzhong Fucheng to contact Yelu Yanxi with his imperial pen in hand.

Fanseng found Yelu Yanxi and gave Zhao Ji's imperial pen to Yelu Yanxi.

After reading it, Yelu Yanxi also wrote back to Zhao Ji.

At the beginning, both sides paid great attention to keeping this matter secret.

But as the number of exchanges between the two parties increased, more and more people knew about it.

Although Yelu Yanxi has been clamoring to regain the old land, he even put on a posture of wanting to regain the land of Yan.

But in fact, Yelu Yanxi had long given up any hope of restoring the country, so he had the idea of ​​selling Yundi to the Zhao Song Dynasty.

However, Yelu Yanxi was somewhat concerned about Xixia.

After all, Yelu Yanxi had already promised part of the cloud land to Xixia, and Xixia had been sending troops to help Yelu Yanxi fight.

But the conditions that Zhao Ji gave Yelu Yanxi also made Yelu Yanxi very tempted.

Zhao Ji told Yelu Yanxi in the imperial pen that as long as Yelu Yanxi gave Yundi to the Song Dynasty and helped the Song Dynasty attack the Dagan Dynasty and drive the Dagan Dynasty out of the Yanyun area, he would treat him like a brother Yelu Yanxi, let Yelu Yanxi's status be higher than Yan Wang and Yue Wang (two brothers of Zhao Ji), build a thousand palaces for Yelu Yanxi, 300 beauties, and treat each other with courtesy.

After a period of consideration, Yelu Yanxi agreed to Zhao Ji's surrender. In addition, Yelu Yanxi also agreed to help the Zhao Song Dynasty persuade Xixia to deal with Li Cun.

But before Yelu Yanxi began to implement what he promised to the Zhao Song Dynasty, Yelu Yanxi was arrested by Zhang Xian and Yang Zaixing, and the autograph letters written by Zhao Ji to Yelu Yanxi also fell into Li Cun's hands.

Tong Guan, who had been waiting for Yelu Yanxi to vote in Taiyuan, learned the news and quickly reported it to Zhao Ji.

Seeing this, Zhao Ji ordered Tong Guan to immediately reorganize the army and prepare to jointly attack the Daqian Dynasty with the Dajin Kingdom.

After Tong Guan got the order, he re-arranged the Yisheng Army's line of defense, and then returned to Xiongzhou immediately.

The military defense system in the north of the Zhao and Song Dynasties mainly consisted of two defense areas, Hebei and Hedong.

Hedong is the Shanxi of the later generations. There are many dangers inside and outside the mountains and rivers, and it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Therefore, the Hedong area was not the focus of the defense of the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

The Hebei area is a vast plain, stretching as far as the eye can see.

Therefore, the Hebei area was the top priority of the northern defense of the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

The Zhao and Song Dynasties set up four important military towns in Hebei, that is, four appeasement routes:
[-]. Gaoyangguan Road, Hejian Prefecture where the government is located;

[-]. Dingzhoufu Road, where the government is located in Zhongshan Prefecture;

[-]. Zhendingfu Road, where the government is located in Zhendingfu;

[-]. Damingfu Road, where the government is located in Damingfu, Beijing.

The garrisons at Gaoyangguan, Dingzhou, and Zhending, and the garrisons at Taiyuanfu and Daizhou on Hedong Road constituted a north-south vertical depth defense system.

The Damingfu Road garrison was distributed along the Yellow River from east to west, and defended horizontally, forming the second line of defense in the north of the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

In addition, the Zhao Song Dynasty also recruited the Changsheng Army and Zhuozhou during the process of recovering the Sixteen States of Yanyun.

In this way, Zhuozhou and the Changsheng Army became the first line of defense of the Zhao and Song Dynasties in the direction of Hebei.

In the past, the reason why Zhao Ji tried to recruit Yelu Yanxi was not only because the Zhao Song Dynasty wanted to regain Yundi and re-establish contact with the Dajin Kingdom, but there was actually another reason.

That is, the morale of the Ever Victorious Army is a little unstable.

Since the Changsheng Army surrendered to the Zhao Song Dynasty, they have received the highest military pay and the best treatment from the Zhao Song Dynasty.

But every time Yelu Yanxi Palace was mentioned, from Guo Yaoshi down, the members of the Changsheng Army said: "We are the old master, and the Lord is here. How dare we descend to the Southern Dynasty? The old master is dead, and I swear I don’t follow Jurchen, so I return to Nanchaoer!”

After Zhao Ji heard about this, he was always worried that Yelu Yanxi's order would force the Ever Victorious Army to vote for Yelu Yanxi, causing the Zhao Song Dynasty to lose an army capable of fighting.

Someone also reported to Zhao Ji that Guo Yaoshi was not trustworthy and had the potential to become the second in Anlu Mountain.

But Zhao Ji has never believed in the reports of these people——Zhao Ji conceitedly felt that he was very kind to Guo Yaoshi, and the imperial court tried his best to satisfy Guo Yaoshi with all kinds of strategic materials such as weapons, armor, battles, horses, etc. Army, and I have already let Guo Yaoshi reach the limit of a military officer, why does Guo Yaoshi still have a different heart?
But although Zhao Ji did not believe that Guo Yaoshi had the intention of rebellion, Zhao Ji still asked Tong Guan to test Guo Yaoshi. If he found out that Guo Yaoshi had different ambitions, he could take Guo Yaoshi into the capital.

After Tong Guan arrived in Zhuozhou, Guo Yaoshi immediately invited Tong Guan to inspect the Changsheng Army.

Guo Yaoshi brought Tong Guan to a wild place, and the surroundings were completely empty.

Guo Yaoshi got off his horse and stood in front of Tong Guanma.

I saw that Guo Yaoshi waved the command flag in his hand, and suddenly tens of thousands of cavalry rushed out from all around, covering the sky and covering the earth, full of murderous aura, people like dragons and horses like tigers, as if people are blocking people and Buddhas are blocking Buddhas.

Even Tong Guan, an old soldier who has fought all his life, was overwhelmed by the might of the Ever Victorious Army.

After displaying the power of the ever-victorious army, Guo Yaoshi waved the command flag again, tens of thousands of cavalry retreated quickly, and the countryside was as silent as before.

With Tong Guan's knowledge, how could he fail to see that the Chang Sheng Army is definitely the first-class strong army in the current Song Army, and the Yi Sheng Army that was once rewarded with high hopes by the Zhao and Song Dynasty could not compare with the Chang Sheng Army at all. Compare.

With this iron cavalry of tens of thousands of horses, the Zhao Song Dynasty will get twice the result with half the effort whether it is attacking the Dagan Dynasty or defending against the Dagan Dynasty.

What's even more rare is that Guo Yaoshi remained humble throughout the whole process, treating Tong Guan like a father with indescribable respect.

I don't know if Guo Yaoshi is too good at acting. His superb acting skills can even deceive the cunning Tong Guan, or judging from the actual situation of the Zhao Song Dynasty, the Zhao Song Dynasty must use the ever-victorious army, and must use Pharmacist Guo.

The ever-victorious army has become a very difficult problem in the hands of the Zhao Song Dynasty, and if it is not handled well, it will face the danger of mutiny.

Once the Ever Victorious Army breaks up and flows into the society, it will inevitably cause chaos.

And the most suitable person to control the ever-victorious army is Guo Yaoshi, and no one else can replace him.

The key point is that the Zhao Song Dynasty really didn't have an army that could fight too much, and it really couldn't do without the ever-victorious army.

Tong Guan probably chose to believe in Guo Yaoshi and tried his best to win Guo Yaoshi because he saw this.

Of course, you can also say that Tong Guan is too stupid. He failed Zhao Ji's great trust. He failed to see the essence of Guo Yaoshi, and he failed to deploy Hebei's frontier defense well.

Perhaps it can also be said that Zhao Ji is the stupidest person, why did you send Tong Guan to investigate Guo Yaoshi?

If another person goes, maybe there will be another result.

In short, Tong Guan chose to believe in Guo Yaoshi and Chang Shengjun. He did not capture Guo Yaoshi back to Bianliang City in Tokyo, but let Guo Yaoshi and Chang Shengjun continue to protect the north gate of the Zhao Song Dynasty, and spent a lot of money Reward Guo Yaoshi and Chang Shengjun.

Then, Tong Guan asked Zhao Ji to "set up four general managers" on Hebei Road, that is, the four military chiefs, to strengthen Hebei's defense.

One is the military chief of Zhongshan Prefecture, under the charge of Xin Xingzong.

——Zhongshan Mansion, Dingzhou Road appeasement envoy was set up in the eighth year of Qingli, Tongding, Bao, Shen, Qi, Guangxin, Ansu, Shun'an, Yongning eight state armies, and Zhenghe was promoted to a mansion in three years.

The second is the military chief of Zhending Mansion, who is in charge of Ren Yuan.

——Zhending Mansion, in the eighth year of Qingli, a pacification envoy was set up to rule Zhen, Xiang, Xing, Zhao, and Mingzhou.

The third is the military chief of Hejian Prefecture, who is in charge of Yang Weizhong.

——Hejian Mansion, named Gaoyangguan in the first year of Taiping Xingguo. In the eighth year of Qingli, there were appeasement envoys. government.

The fourth is the military chief of the Daming Mansion, who is in charge of Wang Yu.

——Daming Mansion, in the eighth year of Qingli, a pacification envoy was set up to rule Beijing, Chan, Huai, Wei, De, Bo, Bin, Di, Tongli, and Baoshun Prefecture Army.

The military chiefs of these four roads also serve as the deputy capital chiefs of all roads.

Tong Guan asked the four-way military commander to actively recruit fugitive soldiers and recruit idlers from all over the place to fill the army, as a way to prepare for the frontier.

Tong Guan wanted to use these four general managers to establish a Hebei military organization system, and through this system to recruit troops and enrich their strength, in order to consolidate and strengthen Hebei's defense.

Because the Hebei Plain is flat and flat, there are no dangerous passes to defend, so since the founding of the country, the Zhao and Song Dynasties have taken many defensive measures on the Hebei border defense line to prevent the Liao army from going south.

For example, elms and willows were planted on a large scale to form defensive forests, ponds were excavated to build the "Water Great Wall", and Hebei's city construction was strengthened to build a city defense system, etc.

These measures should be said to have played an important role in consolidating the northern frontier defense of the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

However, after the Chanyuan Alliance, the Song and Liao countries turned their hostility into friendship. For more than 100 years, they were peaceful and friendly without war. The defense system has gradually weakened.

Tong Guan should have some understanding of the military and political situation in Hebei.

After all, Tong Guan has been here in Hebei for two years.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhao Ji trusted Tong Guan again.

Tong Guan regards Guo Yaoshi and the Changsheng Army as the first line of defense, the four generals as the second line of defense, and the Yellow River as the third natural line of defense.

Tong Guan thought that through such a strengthened deployment, the defense line in Hebei should be impenetrable.

After returning to Beijing, Tong Guan reported to Zhao Ji that Guo Yaoshi was skilled in training soldiers, capable of fighting against others, and his loyalty was commendable.

At the same time, Cai You also assured Zhao Ji that there is absolutely no problem with Guo Yaoshi, so he can use it with confidence.

Only then did Zhao Ji dispel his doubts about Guo Yaoshi.

After this, many people still reported to Zhao Ji that Guo Yaoshi could not be trusted.

For example, Guo Yong, the judge of transshipment, held fast to Guo Yaoshi, and kept writing memorials to Zhao Ji, saying: "It will be this person when it is chaotic every day."

There are also many people like Guo Yong, who are worried that Guo Yaoshi will become the second in An Lushan, and they are worried that he will call himself a soldier.

But Zhao Ji chose to trust Tong Guan and Cai You, thinking that Guo Yaoshi would have no problems, and chose to ignore the voices of these people.

……

Not long after Tong Guan returned to Beijing, Zhao Ji suddenly issued an edict asking the ministers to reward Tong Guan as Guangyang County King on the grounds that Tong Guan had exterminated Zhang Di, Gao Tuoshan and other rebels in Hebei and Jingdong.

Soon after, Zhao Ji officially promulgated the imperial edict, and Tong Guanyi, the former grand master, leader of the Privy Council, and Xuanfu envoy of Hebei, Hedong and Shaanxi, was granted the title of King of Guangyang County.

Prior to this, in the Zhao and Song Dynasties, there were no relatives with different surnames, and no kings.

In the early days of Cai Jing's administration, for the political needs of "holding the theory of Shaoshu", Cai Jing once suggested that Zhao You can make Wang Anshi the King of Shu, and later He Zhizhong was made the King of Qinghe County by Zhao You, but they were all posthumous gifts after death.

Tong Guan is the only one who is alive and crowned king.

This is unprecedented in the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

Moreover, Tong Guan is not only a military commander, he also has a special identity, that is, eunuch.

There are only three eunuchs who became kings in Chinese history.

——The other two are Feng Yi, Wang Zongai and Bolu Wang Li Fuguo.

Tong Guan did not recover the Sixteen States of Yanyun. It can even be said that if Tong Guan hadn't fought a bad battle, Li Cun would not have become bigger and stronger. The power of the dynasty.

Ordinarily, under such circumstances, Zhao Ji should not have crowned Tong Guan king.

But Zhao Ji made Tong Guan the king, and this matter has not met with any particular resistance.

Why is that?
The reason is actually very simple.

That is, from Zhao Ji down, all the monarchs and ministers of the Zhao Song Dynasty realized that the Zhao Song Dynasty was in danger.

First of all, the Dagan Dynasty has already begun to attack Yundi.

Anyone can imagine that after the Dagan Dynasty drove Xixia out of Yundi, Li Cun recovered the complete Yanyun area, completely cutting off the Zhao Song Dynasty from other countries.

At that time, the Dagan Dynasty is likely to attack the Zhao and Song Dynasty from the north and the south.

Secondly, in the past two years, there have been successive rebellions in the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

Although not long ago, generals such as Xin Xingzong and Liu Guangshi of the Tongguan Sect temporarily suppressed the peasant riots in Hebei, Jingdong and other places, but in view of the current actual situation of the Zhao and Song Dynasties, these peasant riots may revive at any time, or even directly Come to attack Bianliang City in Tokyo.

Therefore, the Zhao Song Dynasty urgently needs someone like Tong Guan who understands military affairs and can shock the situation to maintain the safety of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Before that, Zhao Ji always thought that Tan Zhen was a good candidate to replace Tong Guan.

However, it has been proved by practice that Tan Zhen is not good enough for success, but more than bad for failure, and he cannot be reused at all.

in fact--

Zhao Ji also doesn't want to use Tong Guan, who has repeatedly disappointed him.

But Deng Xunwu passed away four years ago, and Zheng Juzhong also died not long ago.

The younger ministers, such as Bai Shizhong, Li Bangyan, Cai You, etc., are all literati and do not understand military affairs at all.

After thinking about it, Zhao Ji felt that no one could replace Tong Guan. If he wanted to keep the Zhao Song Dynasty, he had to rely on Tong Guan, and there was no other way.

Therefore, Zhao Ji used the highest reward of being king to win over Tong Guan, hoping that Tong Guan would do his best for the stability of the Song Dynasty.

To put it bluntly, Zhao Ji gave Tong Guan the title of king only in desperation.

Tong Guan is also 70 years old this year.

At this time when the Zhao Song Dynasty was at its most dangerous, Zhao Ji activated Cai Jing and Tong Guan, the literary and military forces, hoping that his right-hand man who had accompanied him to the top of the world could help him stabilize the situation again, and even create brilliance again.

This is Zhao Ji's last struggle...

……

……

Say a few words.

This chapter and the previous chapter are mandatory.

You may have also guessed that the protagonist is about to die in Song Dynasty, so Zhao Song must respond accordingly.

The meaning is in the title of this chapter.

Therefore, these two chapters have to be transitioned anyway.

(End of this chapter)