The struggle of the reborn prince

In October, Song Dynasty protested against the Jurchens' restoration of the left and right marshal's mansion, saying that it violated the peace agreement and should not engage in hostile acts towards the other party.Now the Kingdom of Jin is building military facilities such as trenches and fortresses on the border between the two countries, and deploying heavy troops. This is a completely provocative act. Song Dynasty has the right to terminate the peace talks between the two parties and take countermeasures.

Faced with Song's accusations, the Kingdom of Jin immediately sent Shangshu Zuocheng Xiao Zhonggong to Bianjing to deliver the tribute to the old year and at the same time explain the matter and clarify the misunderstanding.They claimed that the construction of the boundary trench was only to prevent the Tatars from harassing the border and the pirates from attacking the coastal cities, and they had absolutely no intention of using troops against the Song Dynasty.At the same time, he tactfully proposed that Song Dynasty mobilized heavy troops to the northwest and frequently conducted military exercises against Jin, which would destroy the peace between the two countries and prepare to use force against Jin.

Of course, Da Song would not admit that he wanted to carry out the Northern Expedition, saying that since Jin Guo launched a war against Song Dynasty without any warning 20 years ago, he had to be vigilant about its militaristic construction of military facilities to prevent it from launching a sudden war. attack.As long as it demolishes the boundary trenches, reduces the garrison on the border, and revokes the left and right marshal's mansions, Song Dynasty agrees to cancel the military exercises against them this winter.

The boundary moat was built by the prime minister Wushu who spent the whole country's efforts. If you Da Song said to demolish it, we will demolish it. Of course Xiao Zhonggong categorically rejected Da Song's unreasonable request.He said that it was precisely because the Song court continued to publicize its hatred of the Jin State to the public and supported the Mughals to frequently harass the border areas of the Jin State that led to the tense border situation. to attack.Song Dynasty naturally would not agree with Jin Guo's absurd statement that the boundary trenches it built were only used for defense, pointing out that its boundary trenches built fortresses in important military locations and deployed heavy troops.A large amount of food, grass and military supplies have been hoarded, which can be used as a forward base for attacking the Song Dynasty.However, the Mughals did not launch an attack against the Kingdom of Jin.They were just taking revenge on the Tatars with whom they had a blood feud.

But it was the Kingdom of Jin who intervened in the affairs of the two tribes without authorization and executed the Mughal tribe, I Ba Hai Khan.And brazenly dispatching troops to attack the Mughal tribes led to the deterioration of the border situation, causing the grassland that had already seen the dawn of peace to fall into inter-tribal vendettas, and spread to the border of the Song Dynasty, causing herdsmen along the border to dare not graze and farmers to farm .This responsibility should be borne by Jin Guo, instead of pushing the evil results he planted to Song Dynasty.

Then Da Song brought up the old story again, claiming that the military of the Kingdom of Jin had kidnapped two craftsmen from the Northwest Workshop of Da Song.How could this naked act of aggression convince Da Song that he was building fortifications on the border.The stockpiling of heavy troops is only for defense, not for preparation for war.Xiao Zhonggong couldn't tell the truth about this, but actually he knew the whole story of this matter.In order to obtain the manufacturing method of the Song Army's Lianzhu Gun, the Jin Kingdom's intelligence department worked hard to collect information from all over the world. The emperor paid off and let them buy two gun-making craftsmen from the Northwest Workshop of the Song Dynasty, and promised to kidnap them to them with a lot of money. Golden State.But Da Song quickly noticed it, and used all kinds of relationships to search, but the idiots in the intelligence department had no brains, and the two craftsmen were homesick.They actually took the two of them to the 'Song Pavilion' to relieve their lovesickness, but they leaked their whereabouts, and Da Song got the evidence, and they asked for it in the name of Jin Guo kidnapping people.

Xiao Zhonggong, who was in charge of diplomacy at the time, was in charge of handling the matter.After asking, I realized that the two of them were indeed brought here by their own people, but they were two useless trash, and the things they brought were fake at all.It didn't work at all, and as a result, the people from the intelligence department killed the two 'liars' in a fit of anger.I can't send it back.He could only prevaricate Da Song by saying that the two of them could not bear to bully him and fled to the Kingdom of Jin, and he firmly refused to admit that he was kidnapped.

Because according to the provisions of the peace agreement between the two countries.It is not allowed to accept the fugitives from the other country, and they should be sent back in time after they are caught. Therefore, even if they cross the border voluntarily, the Kingdom of Jin is also obliged to catch and send them back to Da Song.In fact, everyone usually turns a blind eye to this agreement, because the border line is so long that no one can see it. As long as it is not a large-scale escape, no one will care, so just get rid of the hat of kidnapping up.

However, Song Dynasty refused to let it go, and even used its own spies to set up a trap to catch the Jin Guo spies who had deceived the two craftsmen.If it fell into the hands of others, what kind of confession he wanted could not be done, so Jin Guo was convicted of 'kidnapping'. In order to appease the furious Da Song, he finally had to send the body back and paid a large sum of money thing.Unexpectedly, Da Song would use it as evidence to accuse them of invading Da Song today.

Even though he was at a disadvantage, Xiao Zhonggong could only stubbornly refuse to admit it, so the two sides fought a big war of words, accusing the other party of wanting to start a war and destroy the hard-won peace between the two countries.Facing the "unreasonable" Jurchens, Song Dynasty decided to take substantive measures against Jin's provocation, and set up the deployment of the Northwest Camp and the Southeast Camp in a tit-for-tat manner. They are respectively in charge of the five town Fusi of Datong in the northwest, Dading, Xi'an and Yanjing in the southeast, Zhending and Dengzhou Navy, and various state armies.

They were all deployed in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty. They were important titles for military commanders. They were the commander-in-chief deployed on the front lines.This position is not a permanent title, only major war military operations or important theater commanders are sometimes appointed, or temporarily granted, and the lowest deployment is also a regiment training envoy. Now the Song court has two important state ministers as the deployment in this special period. To be unusual, it obviously raised the level of combat readiness to another level.

Facing the aggressive Song Army, Jin Guo felt very helpless and useless. They were really bullied to the door, but they could only send more troops to stand in front of them, watching the flamboyant Song Army wielding knives and guns under their noses .Just when they thought the war was inevitable, Xiao Zhonggong, who went to the Song Dynasty to negotiate and returned without success, said that the Song army would not launch a large-scale attack in the near future. Destroy border defenses.

But Xiao Zhonggong's confident judgment came from the news he heard during the Song Dynasty: Emperor Zhao Er of the Song Dynasty was preparing for the marriage of his two daughters and was choosing a princess for his eldest son.In the culture of the Central Plains, military affairs have always been regarded as evil, and war is considered to be a very unlucky thing. As the emperor of the Song Dynasty, how could Zhao Er launch a war on a happy day, making himself uncomfortable, so he believed that although the Southern Dynasty It's loud and loud, but it won't take the initiative to go to war in the short term, and Jin Guo can safely and boldly respond positively, and don't need to be timid and humble, so that the army's morale will be weakened and morale will be lost.

Wu Shu felt that Xiao Zhonggong's analysis was very reasonable, and at the same time news came from the southern border market that the mutual market transactions between the two countries were normal.Since the Song Dynasty recovered the Yanyun area and occupied Dading Mansion successively, the two countries were bounded by the Daling River in the west and the ancient Great Wall in the north, leaving a corridor about [-] miles wide in the middle, which became the border between the Song and Jin Dynasties. major trade routes of the country.The Song Dynasty set up a market in Qianzhou on the Great Wall, allowing caravans from both sides to trade here. With the completion of the Yingzhou Port built to deal with the severe drought the year before last, merchants from the southeastern part of the Song Dynasty were also attracted to travel by sea. Come here for the deal.

Compared with the tense battle between the two sides on the western border, here it is a group of harmony, and people come and go on the field are very lively, and there is no tension in the relationship between the two countries.Now, with the joining of merchants from the southeast, the demand for fur, ginseng, antler and wood from the Jin Kingdom has greatly increased, and the prices have also risen accordingly.In particular, the merchants of the Kingdom of Jin were satisfied that this year the Song Dynasty not only allowed settlements in gold, silver, silk and other items, but also allowed the use of copper coins commonly used in the two countries as currency and grain barter.

Copper and grain have always been the strategic materials that the Song Dynasty strictly controlled, especially those that were absolutely not allowed to pass through the border during wartime, let alone used for trading. Now that the Song Dynasty has released grain trade, it shows that they have no intention of fighting the Kingdom of Jin at all.From this, Wushu concluded that Song's show of force in the west was for blackmail, so he also ordered Youshuaifu to launch a military exercise against the Song army to show his strength to deter the enemy, but pay attention to the strategy not to cross the line and cause a big conflict Order the Tatars to launch an attack on the Mughals to prevent them from continuously harassing and plundering the winter pastures of the Kingdom of Jin.All of a sudden, on the northwestern border of Song and Jin Dynasties, wars clanged, iron hooves crushed the ice and snow, and the cloud of war was overcast.

…………

"How about the Mughals now?" Although the situation in the west was tense, the Jurchens still kept their restraint and did not cross the line. Zhao Tuo urgently summoned Shang Hu, the commander of the Military Intelligence Department, and he asked as soon as he entered.

"Your Majesty, your subordinates have ordered Yesugai to intensify their raids on the Kingdom of Jin. Now the right commander of the Jin Army, San Zhongyi, has urged the Tatars to attack the Mughals several times to relieve their pressure." Shang Hu hastily reported. road.

"Hmph, they can hold their breath, but they still refuse to take action themselves, and still want to use the Tatars to deal with the Mughals!" Zhao Tuo snorted coldly, and turned around in the hall.

"Your Majesty means that you want to drag the Jurchens into the water and let them attack the Mughals?" Shang Hu had been by the emperor's side for many years and knew that the emperor was thinking about countermeasures, but he was dizzy and asked carefully after thinking about it.

"Nonsense, you think so many troops are playing with the Jurchens in the west, I'm going to beat them up!" Zhao Tong stopped and gave Shang Hu a look.

"Your Majesty wants to find a reason to go to war?" Shang Hu asked with a smile.

"If I know, I still ask, the teacher must be famous, otherwise, if I make a move, those idle and uncomfortable scholars will give me a memorial again, and I will be annoyed to death, but Zhao Li is a well-behaved person, and he can't do things that are nothing to do. Come out..." Zhao Tun chattered angrily, and suddenly looked at Shang Hu and smiled...

.

. ,