People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 370: The Great Song Dynasty’s Picture is Poorly Seen
The fierce battle only lasted for less than half an hour. As the midday sun shone through the clouds and fell on the earth, the setting sun of early winter passed by. Outside the west gate of Yuguan, the ground was already a mess.

The Song army ambushed two thousand gunmen and cooperated with hundreds of soldiers in the city to launch a fierce offensive against the surging Liao people.

In that case, a large number of Liao soldiers gathered near the gate of the West City and directly became a living target for the Song army. It can be said that they suffered heavy losses and there were corpses everywhere.

Those who were not shot, those who were killed on the spot, or those whose horses were frightened and the soldiers fell off and were injured lay on the ground, and all kinds of wailing sounds could be heard endlessly.

Di Qing coldly issued an order to clean up the battlefield, and sent the enemies who were not yet dead to the west to meet the Buddhist Tathagata believed by the Liao people. Then he ordered that before the new Liao army came, he immediately began to transport artillery into the city.

But what he didn't expect was that after the Liao people escaped, they would sweep in again.

Because there was a Bohai and Jurchen team of more than 10,000 people behind Shuluchuuliji. When they learned that Yuguan was being fought by the Song army ahead, encouraged by the escaped Shuluchuuliji, the leading generals led their troops to Yuguan without stopping. Kill.

The reason why they did not stop was that after Shulu Chuiliji and others escaped, they gathered the remaining soldiers from a distance. When observing the situation in the Song Dynasty's city, they found that the Song Dynasty was unloading artillery from the ship, and guessed that they must be at Yuguan Pass. Install artillery, so they came to attack impatiently.

After all, once the Song people installed artillery, cooperated with riflemen to guard the west gate, and were covered by boats on the river, the entire Yuguan would be like an iron barrel and could no longer be captured. That's why the Liao army was so desperate to stop it. Song army artillery entered the city.

But that was already night time.

In this way, he completed two counterattacks on his own territory. Even though the Song people had muskets, he had a geographical advantage and had their own Xixia artillery. It should be no problem to repel the Song people.

This made the Song Dynasty very short of horses. Without mobility, it suffered repeated defeats in the battle with Xixia, and had almost no power to fight back.

"Yes."

During the Song Zhenzong period, because his father Li Deming had a good relationship with the Song Dynasty, both Qingtang and Xixia maintained the supply of war horses to the Song Dynasty. As a result, the price of war horses in the Song Dynasty was relatively stable at that time, and the average war horse remained at around 20 pieces. A little bit is only 50 sticks.

"What does Yeli Wangrong do? He originally promised that he could hold on for at least two months. How come it was breached in just a few days?"

This news was so shocking that Li Yuanhao's original joy of defeating the Song Army was completely dissipated. Instead, he was dizzy, and his whole body now only felt like he was close to collapse.

Under such circumstances, the three parties of Qingtang, Xixia, and Liao sent war horses, and the price of war horses plummeted. Starting from the first year of Qingli, more than a hundred war horses were initially required, but by the second year they dropped to eighty. Up to now, there are only more than ten horses.

The guards responded and let the cavalry pass.

Originally, he wanted to let Qingtang and Zhuolu City resist the main force of the Song people first. He first led the main force of Xixia to quickly attack the partial troops of the Song people, and then rushed to the west without stopping to gather all the troops of Xixia. Attack the Song army head-on.

The cavalry galloped forward. He was dirty and his hair was in locks. He turned over and dismounted with difficulty, and said with a mournful face: "Your Majesty, the Song Dynasty has defeated Zhuo La City and Miaochuan City. Our army has been defeated miserably!"

It is a miracle that Li Yuanhao was able to set up an ambush, use artillery to defeat the Song army led by Ren Fu, who made a detour and made a surprise attack, and then let the cavalry, which mainly used cold weapons, pursue them.

Li Yuanhao licked his dry lips. This was Qiliping in Xixia, and it was also the shortest road for the Song Army to go straight to Xingqing Mansion.

And just when Di Qing cut off the Yuguan Pass, one Liao army came to kill another, one team came to kill another team, and one army came to cut down another army.

Because firstly, the Song army had no shortage of war horses, and secondly, they were carrying firearms. When being chased, they could shoot back from their horses, so the Xixia people did not dare to pursue them too close.

'Pity. ’

Since the Song Dynasty forced Li Yuanhao and Yelv Zongzhen to sign a contract, they were not allowed to ban the transportation of war horses. In addition, in exchange for the so-called "year-old coins", the Liao Kingdom used 166 high-quality war horses that had not been castrated at a price of almost guans each. It was exchanged for coins, so that the people of Song Dynasty could breed war horses.

Li Yuanhao stood on the top of the mountain and looked to the southeast. A large number of Song troops were rushed to pieces. The rest of the Song troops fled in embarrassment, leaving corpses on the ground. Behind him, there were countless Xixia soldiers chasing after them desperately, but they could not catch up.

You must know that Li Yuanhao's strategic task this time is mainly to cover the Liao attack, and secondly to capture Qingtang, and then defeat the Song army on his own territory on the western front.

He planned hard and hid the main force so tightly, but the final result was not very satisfactory. More than 10,000 people from the Song Dynasty came, but they only lost less than a thousand people in the initial artillery offensive. .

But it's different now.

Li Yuanhao almost lost his balance and fell off the horse, but the guards at the side helped him to prevent him from falling off the horse.

Unexpectedly, the battlefield in the west was defeated too quickly.

Li Yuanhao came to his senses and roared hysterically.

But Li Yuanhao also heard the sound, turned his head and said with a serious face: "Let him come over."

'But it was helpless. We had to sell so many cattle, sheep, and horses to build these artillery pieces. If we lose, we will gain. '

'Originally, the Song people did not have so many war horses. It was because of the last peace negotiation that they were forced to sign a treaty, so that the Song people had so many war horses. '

While still at the bottom of the hillside, they were stopped by Li Yuanhao's personal guards.

Because for him, it is now a matter of picking up sesame seeds and losing the watermelon.

This situation made it difficult for the Xixia people to continue to expand their results through close combat with cold weapons after the Song soldiers were bombed.

By then, not only would they have completed the task of containing the Song army's troops in the northwest, but they would also be able to capture Qingtang and expand their Xixia strength.

'Forget it, it's not easy to successfully ambush the Song army. Now that the Song people are defeated, we can also collect their loot, and even attack all the way and capture their border stronghold. '

You must know that he only set out half a month ago. Coupled with the time when the Song Army marched, this means that the Song Army may have conquered the second city in a few days at most. This is at least more than what he imagined. The moon is completely different.

The soldier who reported the news said with a mournful face: "The Song army took advantage of the heavy rain to use firearms and could not go out of the city to check. They deployed artillery outside the South City Gate. After the heavy rain stopped, they bombarded the South City Gate. General Yeli was caught off guard. If not That heavy rain.”

Li Yuanhao thought to himself.

"what?"

But during his reign, starting from the year of Jingyou, the transportation of war horses to the Song Dynasty was prohibited. Coupled with the continued blockade of the Liao Kingdom, it became increasingly difficult for the Song Dynasty to obtain war horses, and the price of war horses soared.

"Retribution! Your Majesty, something bad happened."

The Northwest War has almost come to an end.

According to the "Tongkao of Documents" written by Bi Zhongxun, an official in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, from the Baoyuan year to the Kangding year and then to the Qingli year, the price of war horses rose from more than 195 guan to more than guan, and the better war horses even once reached guan. One hundred and fifty thousand coins, which is the price of coins, shows how expensive the war horse is.

Just when Li Yuanhao was looking to the southeast and watching his soldiers chasing and killing the fleeing Song army, he saw a horse galloping towards him with a look of fear on his face.

After having war horses, the mobility of the Song people was greatly improved. Although the mobility of field artillery such as heavy artillery and Weiyuan artillery is still not improved, the Song people with muskets are already very powerful.

heavy rain?

Li Yuanhao was stunned for a moment. The artillery was indeed unable to fire in the rain, and it seemed that Ye Li Wangrong was not to blame.

But he was still very angry. If he hadn't known that drawing a knife and killing someone at this time would cause the army to lose morale, he would probably have wanted to kill the soldier who reported the news.

"Ming Jin withdraws his troops!"

Li Yuanhao yelled.

"Your Majesty, at this time we should take advantage of the victory and pursue it. How can we withdraw our troops?"

A general admonished him.

Now that a partial division of the Song Army has been ambushed, it is time to expand the results.

No matter what, they must at least kill the Song army and plunder everywhere to make up for their losses in Xixia. If they withdraw their troops now, they will suffer a big loss.

However, Li Yuanhao said angrily: "If you don't withdraw your troops, will you wait for them to go north to attack Xingqing Mansion? You idiot!"

Now that the western front has collapsed, the fall of Zhuolu and Nan means that the Song army can march straight in and directly attack Li Yuanhao's home base of Xingqing Mansion.

Not even giving up the family in order to expand the results is equivalent to giving up the crystal base for a top lane and a tower.

No matter how stupid Li Yuanhao is, he can't do it. At that moment, Li Yuanhao hurriedly mobilized his troops and returned to defense. Regardless of whether he captured Zhuoluo and Nan, at least he had to ensure that the Song army would not continue to go north to capture Xingqing Mansion.

Xixia occupied Qingtang in May, and the Song army launched a counterattack in August. In less than half a month, they successively recovered Qingtang, and also captured Zhuoluo and Nan areas of Xixia. The results of the battle were very fruitful.

In October, Li Yuanhao led the main army to return for reinforcements, but was repelled by Zhang Kang and Jingtai's troops.

Only then did Han Qi in the northwest know that Li Yuanhao actually hid the main force, but it was of no use. Although Ren Fu was defeated, the Song Dynasty's strategic mission had been completed and a large area of ​​territory had been successfully captured.

In early October, the war in the Liao Kingdom had just begun. Fan Zhongyan led the Hebei Road army to surround the Xijin Mansion of the Liao Kingdom. Di Qing led a partial army to set off from the sea to cut off the Yuguan channel.

Bianliang has not received the battle report yet. After all, it is too far away. In the era without telegraphs, it would be four or five days before we could get the battle report from Xijin Mansion. It would be even more difficult to get the battle report from Yuguan direction. There was no news until half a month later.

Therefore, the Constitutional Yuan does not yet know the situation on Di Qing's side.

They are currently busy with another matter - the reorganization of the Constitutional Yuan in October.

Since the Constitutional Yuan was established in September of the third year of Jingyou's reign, this department has formulated relevant rules and regulations.

In accordance with the powers conferred by the Supreme Constitution of the Song Dynasty, the full name of the Constitutional Yuan is the "National Government Affairs Development and Institutional Reform Institute of the Song Dynasty", or the Constitutional Yuan for short.

This department oversees national government affairs and has all the power to appoint and remove all officials except for officials below the Compositional Yuan. It has supervision, management, decision-making and even law enforcement powers over all departments, and has all powers except the military.

It can be said that the Constitutional Yuan is equivalent to the power of the prime minister in ancient times. Zhao Jun, the Zhiyuan Zhiyuan, is the emperor who has the command power of the Xiang Army and the Imperial City Division Imperial Army in addition to the vast majority of the Imperial Army.

It is obviously unfair to say that Zhao Jun is inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people, because the person above him in name is often threatened, intimidated, beaten, and even beaten by him.

So Zhao Jun is very powerful now.

After the morning session on October 8th, Zhao Jun sat on his desk with a pot of tea, and Yan Shu was chatting with him next to him.

"Today's morning court was quite lively. The officials stole the love of Song Gong and Cai Gong on the spot, so they can be re-elected."

"But in contrast, they naturally have to give up the power of recommendation."

"What you have to give up is what you get."

"Why do you feel so happy, Uncle Lari?"

"No way, but Hanlong, your status is as stable as Mount Tai. Back then you told me that you wanted to be the executive deputy emperor. How about it? Now you can get your wish."

Yan Shu said with a smile.

In the morning, the reorganization of the Constitutional Yuan was put on the agenda. Cai Qi and Song Shou pretended to submit a letter stating that they would resign and be laid off.

After all, the court now has regulations that the rules below the prefecture and county level are still the same as before, with a three-year survey, that is, after three years of serving as a magistrate or county magistrate, he should be transferred to another place. This is also to prevent the magistrate and county magistrate from colluding with local forces. , thereby falling into corruption.

Those above the road level belong to senior officials and are replaced every five years. Including the chief officials of the five departments including the transportation envoys and pacification envoys, as well as the chief officials of more than 50 departments under the Constitutional Yuan, all have five-year terms.

The Constitutional Yuan is an exception, and can serve two terms for a total of ten years.

However, Zhao Zhen announced on the spot that Zhao Jun, the magistrate, was not subject to term limits and could stay in office forever. This caused shock in both the government and the public, and many officials complained.

Although Zhao Jun was supported by the entire Political Yuan prime minister and their affiliated forces, and he also had many younger brothers, such as Li Di, Xia Song, Yang Cha, Yang Gao, Zhao Pian, Chen Xiliang, etc., who were very powerful among the government and the opposition.

Ding Ding said that when power was in power, there were still countless people who opposed it, not to mention that Zhao Jun, who was not a Jinshi, was not a dark horse who rose up as a lower-level official.

Reaching the sky in one step sounds comfortable, but you also have to bear the jealousy, jealousy, and dissatisfaction of countless people.

So in the past ten years, everything seems to be going smoothly for Zhao Jun, but many people in the government and the public are watching, and if he is not careful, countless people will write letters of impeachment. If it weren't for the resolute attitude of many prime ministers of the Constitutional Yuan and Zhao Zhen, I am afraid that he would have stepped down by now.

"Uncle Larri, what you said is that you, an old comrade, still have low consciousness. The officials and the people have given me this position. What I have to do is to serve the officials, the Song Dynasty, and the people. How can you say that I am the executive deputy emperor?"

Zhao Jun squinted his eyes and took a sip of veteran cadre tea, his sly eyes were like a little fox.

I have been ups and downs in the officialdom for so many years, and I have studied with Lu Yijian, an old fox with rich experience in officialdom struggles, for so long. I must have gained a lot of wisdom.

"You are still acting cunning in front of me. You are a person who knows the basics. Do you need to use such official tone?"

Yan Shu smiled and teased.

Since Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng were laid off, he has now vaguely replaced Lu Yijian's position, only under Zhao Jun. Naturally, the two of them don't have so many worries when talking to each other.

After all, Yan Shu's political attitude has always been very clear, which is to be a political tumbler, impartial and standing in the absolute middle.

And no matter what policy Zhao Jun pursues, he fully supports it, so naturally there is no need to be an outsider.

While the two were talking, an official on duty from the Constitutional Yuan hurriedly came in from outside and said: "Zhiyuan, Tongzhi, report on the battle situation in the northwest. Our army has captured Qingtang, Zhuoluo and Nan, and now Li Yuanhao is leading his army back to defend. ”

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun took the battle report from the official and glanced at it. It was a letter from Han Qi, explaining the current situation in the northwest to the Constitutional Yuan.

"Han Qi is very anxious. I heard that he even arrived at the front line to watch the battle in person and urged the soldiers to fight bravely."

Yan Shu came over.

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "The Constitutional Yuan is about to be reorganized. Can he not be in a hurry? But it's not his fault. Even if someone recommends him, I won't agree. This person is not good at fighting. He is a good player in politics, but his qualifications are not enough." Too bad, what the Constitutional Yuan needs is a group of mature and prudent people.”

This statement is also obvious, meaning that the Constitutional Yuan needs a group of old men.

It's not that Zhao Jun suppresses young people, but that he needs to consider his own interests.

It is a good thing that the Constitutional Yuan is getting younger, but the younger it is, the more it shows that it has its own political opinions.

New parties like the Qingli New Deal, and later Wang Anshi, Lu Huiqing and others were all in their thirties and forties. They became prime ministers at a young age and then carried out drastic reforms.

If they enter the Constitutional Yuan and have their own political opinions, which are contrary to Zhao Jun's political opinions, it will obviously cause instability within the Constitutional Yuan.

So it's easier to control a group of old guys coming in.

The old man is getting older and has less motivation to carry out reforms, so the Constitutional Yuan will naturally become Zhao Jun's talking point.

Although this seems to mean suppressing dissidents, in many cases it is necessary to protect one's own political interests, otherwise it may cause the loss of political power.

And this is already the mildest method. Compared with later Western political elections, Mark Twain's "Running for Governor" is considered a legitimate campaign method.

What's more, what Zhao Jun is engaging in now is strongman politics. He uses strong means to develop the country. He will definitely not promote some obstacles to come in and make himself unhappy. Therefore, when the Constitutional Yuan is selected as the prime minister, he will definitely check it personally. .

Yan Shu naturally understood what he meant, smiled and said, "In that case, just take good care of it yourself."

"Now that our strategic mission in the northwest has been completed, Xixia will be in pain if we seize such a large area of ​​land from Xixia. Let Han Qi guard the northwest."

Zhao Jun thought for a while and then said: "Starting from this year, let Han Qi severely crack down on smuggling traders in the northwest, cut off all commercial activities with Xixia, severely sanction them, and do not allow any merchants in the Western Regions to trade with them. I will In the next few years, the Xixia economy will be paralyzed and they will fall apart internally. "

After planning for so long, today it’s time to finally make it happen.

Xixia and Liao both vigorously developed arms, and the economic lifeline of the entire country was controlled by Song. Now that economic sanctions have begun, there is no business, and their herdsmen have no source of tea and iron. Their cattle and sheep cannot be sold, and they will freeze to death when winter comes.

At that time, the entire grassland will fall into economic collapse. I am afraid that it will not be long before the Song Dynasty takes action. Xixia and Liao will fall into civil strife, allowing the Song Dynasty to easily defeat and capture them.

(End of this chapter)