Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

Tian Zimao - integrated reprint

Write a single chapter for this person, a very inspirational person, the journey of an ordinary person walking the route of a general in the environment of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Tian Zimao is a descendant of Tian Chengsi, the Jiedu envoy of Weibo Town in Tang Dynasty. Although his family background was prominent, it gradually declined in the middle of Northern Song Dynasty. An ordinary farm boy.

Xining encouraged the implementation of the Baojia Law for three years. Tian Zimao chose to become a Baoding. Because of his outstanding martial arts, he was "recommended with a bow and horse" after a short time. This shows that his archery and horse riding skills in Baoding are quite superb. .Trial riding, foot shooting, and shooting close relatives and distant ones, etc., the first class is guaranteed to be heard, introduced to the court, the emperor personally reads and tests it, and orders it to be an official.

The sixth year of Yuanfeng (1083) was a turning point in Tian Zimao's life. He stood out from the numerous Baojia on Hedong Road and got an excellent opportunity to go to the capital to take the martial arts exam. one".Afterwards, he "made up the third shift" (in fact, there is no rank), and continued to be in charge of Baojia affairs near his hometown. He took root in the grassroots for ten years and finally served as a county lieutenant in Xianju County.

Not long after, he took up the post of Chief Registrar. It happened that there was a vacancy in the county magistrate, and he took on the job of magistrate. His administrative ability was remarkable, and he actually became the only court official in Xianju County.

Around the second year of Shaosheng (1095), Tian Zimao formally engaged in the career of military commander for the first time on Jingyuan Road. He served as the fourth general.It just so happened that Lu Huiqing, the second in command of the Reform Party, served as the magistrate of Yan'an Prefecture, and he was especially valued by him. He promoted Tian Zimao in the form of "Zoubi", and he became a member of the same boat with him from then on.

Soon Zhezong of Song Dynasty took charge of the government and decided to attack Xixia. In July of the third year of Shaosheng (1096), Tian Zimao participated in the war against Xixia as the sixth general. Zhang Jie attacked Chengping in Xixia together, and after defeating the Xixia army, he "destroyed his stronghold".

At the beginning of the battle, the Song army seemed to have the upper hand, but was soon besieged by the Xixia army, "gathering the enemy with bandits and soldiers." It seems that Xixia did send a considerable number of troops to resist the attack of the Song army.In the situation of "the horse was killed and the arrow was cut off, and the limbs were injured", Tian Zimao, as a low-level commander of the Song Army, had no choice but to lead his soldiers to break out of the encirclement, "fight again with several disabled soldiers, and win the road."It can be seen from this that the battle of Tieye was undoubtedly very tragic. The Song army was obviously caught in the siege of the Xixia army, losing troops and losing generals.Although the epitaph said that Tian Zimao won the victory and even reported it to the emperor, in order to commend his contribution, Tian Zimao was rewarded with "given silver and fragrant medicine, tea silk and the first rank of official rank, and reduced two years of grinding" .However, it is almost certain that the Song army ended in failure in this battle.

However, once the emperor and the courtiers, Zhezong passed away in Yuanfu three years (1100, 42 years old), Huizong came to power, and anti-reform figures came to power. Among them, Fan Chunyan, the son of Fan Zhongyan, came to Yanzhou to take a post. He was dissatisfied with Lu Huiqing and wanted to expose his false military exploits. Tian Zimao was also arrested and imprisoned for investigation.

For Tian Zimao, a middle- and lower-level official, this is a very difficult choice, and it is also an important test for his life and career.He either cooperates with Fan Pure to expose Lu Huiqing's actions during his tenure, or resists the huge pressure from his immediate superiors at the time, and stands by Lu Huiqing, who has some kindness to him, and tries his best to protect the interests of Lu Huiqing and other former officials. .Therefore, although Tian Zimao and the imperial envoys Fan Hong, Huang Yan and others were deeply imprisoned, "if you are in prison, you must admit it", but they all firmly denied that there had ever been a reward for meritorious service, and Tian Zimao His performance was particularly eye-catching. He even argued to his interrogators, "You can give up your head, but you don't have to give up rewards. You don't need to be certain. It's the same all the way. How do you get it?"In his opinion, not only did he not "falsely reward", but the whole journey was like this, otherwise it would be impossible to achieve the effect of "opening up thousands of miles". Things that get rewarded.After all, he and Lu Huiqing had much more personal contacts than Fan Chunchun, and the personal friendship was much deeper.More importantly, he is probably also one of those with vested interests who falsely reported military achievements.Therefore, Tian Zimao doesn't seem to have much choice, whether out of worldly circumstances or for his own political future.If he pleads guilty, he will naturally be punished accordingly. For Tian Zimao, who was born in the grassroots class, it is better not to admit it than to be demoted or even lose his official position.

Under such circumstances, Fan Chunchun seemed to have gradually understood his character of preferring death to surrender, so he had to be released and appointed him as the "Master of Suide Army Nuanquan Village".Although the position is not particularly attractive, he is the supreme military leader of a city after all, and he has participated in the battle to build the city, so he should have a better understanding of the local situation, so it is better to send him to garrison Reasonable arrangement.For some reason, Tian Zimao finally rejected Fan Chunchun's kindness.After the ordeal of this incident, Tian Zimao was not only highly appreciated by the parties involved in the incident, but Lu Huiqing was also very moved by this. He once said to others, "I have treated this person well in the past, and I am sincere."This shows that Tian Zimao did not fall into trouble at the critical moment, at least his personality is quite noble.On the other hand, this incident also won him a great reputation, "Thus, people in the world who hear the wind of the public, whether they know it or not, all regard it as a real man."That is to say, Tian Zimao disregarded his own future and even his own life safety. This kind of lofty integrity that is not afraid of the powerful has won praise and praise from many people.It can also be seen from this that this incident has undoubtedly had a considerable impact and shock in the local area and even on a larger scale.

During the reign of Chongning, Tao Jiefu, Cai Jing's confidant, came to Yanzhou to take the post of the chief executive. Fan Guan of the nearby Weirong City defected. He deliberately blamed Heishuibao for not being aware of it, and wanted to demote Tian Zimao's post, but he did not implement it later. .

After losing his official backer, Tian Zimao had to rely more on his personal strength to face his career difficulties.

After that, Tian Zimao still served the country as a small officer of the Heishuibao garrison, and followed the Song army to fight on the border of Song and Xia, as an insignificant person.

In the third year of Chongning (1104, 46 years old), Tian Zimao's father passed away, and Tian Zimao went home for the funeral. He was full of grievances about his previous encounters, and because he could hardly communicate with the two chief executives of Yan'an, he was never appreciated and trusted.

During Tian Zimao's mourning period, wars between the Northern Song Dynasty and Xixia continued frequently. In the fourth year of Chongning (1105, 47 years old), the Song Army captured Yinzhou (south of Yulin, Shaanxi) and opened up the Eastern Front. Appointed, he resigned in disappointment for a while, and soon returned to Yanyan Road to participate in the construction of fortifications, but did not receive promotion or reward.

In the early years of Song Huizong's Grand View, the Northern Song Dynasty planned to recover the Yanyun area.In order to select military commanders, the government ordered capable generals to participate in the war in the Yanyun area. Tian Zimao was the first to respond to the initiative and came to the Song-Liao border area without hesitation.

Tian Zimao successively held the positions of "Training Hebei No.12 General Ma under the same jurisdiction", and then moved to Zhaozhou (Zhao County, Hebei). Since Zhaozhou has no known state, Tian Zimao actually became the highest executive of the state.

Due to his advanced age, his official career had almost come to an end, and the Northern Expedition was nowhere in sight. After that, Tian Zimao returned to Hedong Road as the sixth general (1112, 54 years old), stationed in Longde Mansion (Changzhi, Shanxi), Appreciated by the appeasement envoy Qian Ji, he was appointed as the sixth general. He died of illness two years later at the age of 56.

(End of this chapter)