Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 639 Gloating over misfortune
[The governance of Sichuan during the two Song dynasties was never stable.

The most typical example is that Wang Xiaobo's uprising took place here. At that time, the Northern Song Dynasty had only been established for 33 years, so the problem was obvious.

But if we continue to trace the issue back, this problem will have to be traced back to Zhao Da. After all, everyone knows that Wang Quanbin massacred all the people of Shu after he conquered Shu.

Some people call it self-pollution, others say it is a legacy of the Five Dynasties, but in any case it is an established fact that a large number of Sichuan people died indirectly at his hands.

As for Zhao Da's later pursuit of Wang Quanbin, no one could tell whether it was because of the civil strife caused by the massacre of Shu, or because Wang Quanbin killed the surrendered soldiers in order to conceal the truth, or whether he was investigating the incident of the massacre of Shu itself.

But in short, Wang Quanbin was eventually pardoned by Zhao Dakuan and appointed as the Jiedushi of Wuning Army, where he died a good death.

Emperor Taizu of Song did gain some reputation for being kind to his old ministers, but he could hardly be considered lenient towards the people of Shu.

In addition, Zhao Da was also famous for his "leniency". For example, his well-known brother-in-law Wang Jixun led troops to plunder women from decent families in his early years. When Zhao Da found out, he killed all the soldiers, but as for the main culprit... "not guilty".

Wang Jixun was quite "righteous". Later, he chased Zhao Da to seek redress for those soldiers who were beheaded. Zhao Da was so impatient that he took away his military power, which made him "depressed". He killed servants for fun at home. Later, these servants stopped Zhao Da in front of the palace gate to complain, which made Zhao Da lose face. So he decided to exile him to Dengzhou. However, this brother-in-law was caught up by the imperial envoy just after he was exiled from the capital, and was sent to Luoyang to be a general instead.

When he arrived in Luoyang, we can only say that he was a good guy. He would rapine women from decent families for no reason, and "kill and eat them" if he was not satisfied. He even took them to Changshou Temple to be eaten by a monk named Guanghui. It can be said that he was extremely cruel. He was at large for eleven years, and was truly a living devil.

No one knows whether Zhao Da knew the details. The records at that time only stated that the people "suffered from it but dared not complain." It was not until Zhao Er came to power that he was captured and executed. This was considered a good thing for the people of Luoyang.

Of course, this is getting off topic. In short, during the Zhao Dynasty, there was a lot of preferential treatment for arrogant and brave generals. Wang Jixun and Wang Quanbin were just more prominent examples.

The most fundamental reason is that under the national policy of "strong trunk and weak branches", there are many contradictions between the trunk and branches. Sichuan, which is located in a remote area, has money and food, and is easy to defend but difficult to attack, has become the most typical representative of them.

After Wu Xi rebelled against Shu, although the Southern Song Dynasty did not give up Sichuan, its suspicion of him became increasingly serious. At that time, knowledgeable people all offered suggestions to strengthen the defense of Shukou to protect Sichuan, but the Southern Song central government turned a deaf ear to them.

Before and after the Duanping invasion of Luoyang, the commanders-in-chief of the Jinghu War Zone and the Jingxiang War Zone were either Lizong's confidants or old friends of the powerful prime minister, and most of the military funds were used for these. The Sichuan-Shaanxi War Zone was devastated from beginning to end. Finally, after the death of Cao Youwen and other brave generals born to stepmothers, there was no longer any obstacle for Mongolia to enter Shu.

It was not until the temporary end of the first phase of the Song-Mongol War in 1241 that the Southern Song court was finally able to pay attention to the problem of Sichuan's poor defense.

At that time, the famous general Meng Gong, who had served as a fire captain in the Jinghu Xiangyang area for six years, was interested in reorganizing Sichuan.

Meng Gong participated in the entire first phase of the Song-Mongol War and performed brilliantly. He first led his troops to fight fiercely against Mongolia to recapture Xiangyang, making the Jinghu defense line intact. Then he spent a lot of effort to reorganize the Jinghu Lianghuai defense line. He generally adopted the defense strategy of "saving wherever the fire started" and arranged multiple layers of overlapping in-depth defense in a small area, thus building a very solid triple defense line for the Southern Song Dynasty.

Therefore, Meng Gong was completely unable to get away, and finally Lizong chose Yu Jie, who had performed well in the Jianghuai war, to be the commander of Shu.

Yu Jie's defense was similar to Meng Gong's. He built many forts to control the river passes and constructed a mountain city defense system with deep and tiered defense characteristics, firmly guarding the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Meng Gong passed away in 1246 after completing the construction of the triple line of defense. This defense system was used for nearly thirty years to prolong the life of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Yu Jie won the hearts of the people for his success in governing Shu, but he was also suspected of this. He died suddenly in 1253, and his property was confiscated and he was dismissed from his position. The mountain city system he spent ten years building also became the "whip-breaking place" of the Mongols.

You could hear a pin drop in the palace in Bianliang.

The "puff" laughter seemed particularly clear in the silence.

Zhao Pu turned his head and saw Master Kong Jiong lying on the ground, searching hard for the scattered Buddhist beads.

I turned around to look at the official, and as expected... I saw nothing.

The official's dark face was completely hidden in the shadows and his expression could not be seen at all, but the aura of "keep away from strangers" emanating from his side showed that he was not in a very good mood.

"I have pardoned Wang Quanbin again?" The voice was cold, and there was a lot of confusion in it.

Before Zhao Pu could speak, Zhao Kuangyi could not wait to stand up and said:
"Although this has not happened yet, why is it so difficult to guess?"

"Brother, before you die..."

Feeling the air in the hall suddenly turn cold, Master Kong Jiong twisted his neck, then clasped his hands together and said:
"Before the Emperor passed away, he was still planning to destroy Northern Han. Since it was a Northern Expedition, he should win over the people's hearts. The lenient Wang Quanbin was given an honorary position, so that everyone would know that the Emperor was magnanimous and willing to reward. This was a move that would benefit the war."

"Why not?"

I don’t know if it was an illusion, but Zhao Pu seemed to hear some excitement from the words “Why not?”

As for Wang Jixun... Zhao Pu knew more about this.

In the fifth year of Xian De, the emperor's first wife, He, passed away. In the same year, he was promoted to the commander of the imperial court, so he married Wang as his successor.

Wang was filial to Empress Dowager Du, and raised the princes and princesses. She recited Buddhist scriptures on weekdays and did not like luxury. She was good at playing the zither, drums, and piano to accompany meals, and was very much loved by the emperor. However, she died of illness at the age of 22 three years after being named empress. The emperor often felt that he owed her a lot.

Therefore, he was lenient towards Queen Wang's brother. For example, the one who led the troops to plunder women should be executed according to the law, but in the end he was the only one pardoned.

As for what happened later... Zhao Pu was not sure whether His Majesty knew it or not, but he thought that he probably was not particularly clear about it. After all, cannibalism was truly a horrifying thing.

But now that things have come to this, a decision should be made.

Sure enough, Zhao Pu saw the official in the shadows turning his face towards him:

"Immediately send someone with the imperial guards to investigate the truth of what Wang Jixun did in Luoyang. If it is true, write down his crimes and display them on the streets of Luoyang, and then execute him. There is no need to report to me multiple times."

"Wang Quanbin...considering his health condition, he will be temporarily recalled to the capital to obey orders."

Zhao Pu bowed and accepted the order.

After hesitating for a moment, Emperor Zhao Song turned around and looked at his troublesome brother. Master Kong Jiong immediately took a few steps back vigilantly.

But he certainly didn't think he could escape anywhere. Once the palace door was opened, there would most likely be imperial guards outside. But he couldn't admit defeat at this moment:

"I am not in a position to participate in the war. I only hope that the officials will be kind and benevolent..."

Zhao Kuangyin interrupted his brother's muttering with a wave of his hand and said impatiently:

"I have no time to beat you now. Tomorrow you will receive a hundred military sticks for your crimes."

"If you don't come on time, I will come to your door myself with a military stick!"

"Oh, by the way, this duty does not allow the staff to be broken."

The gloating expression disappeared, and Master Kong Jiong's face turned pale.

(End of this chapter)