Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 508 Self-destruction
The best way is to give up the results of this battle. The Liao Kingdom suffered a great loss and needs to recuperate. It will not counterattack the Song Dynasty in a short period of time.

But Zhao Xing was very unwilling to do this. Having spent so much manpower and resources, he naturally did not want to return the conquered territory just like that.

We can only hope that the British Duke’s plan will succeed this time.

As long as Duke Ying's plan succeeds, the strength of the Liao Kingdom will be greatly weakened, and the Liao Kingdom will be unable to regain its lost territory.

If that didn't work, Zhao Xing could only take away as many people as possible.

Plundering the population can not only weaken the Liao Dynasty's economy, but also reduce the Liao Dynasty's military forces.

It’s just that it’s rather troublesome to resettle them, and they can’t generate tax revenue for the Song Dynasty in a short period of time, and the court has to pay for it.

This method is a last resort.

The best way is to keep the territory you have conquered.

All this depends on whether the Duke of England's plan can succeed.

Zhao Xing did not place all his hopes on the Duke of Ying. He summoned a group of ministers to discuss how to resettle the people if they were to be relocated.

As the saying goes, it is better to be prepared than to be caught unprepared. If the British plan fails, discussing it in advance can also save time.

It works, no loss.

However, the Duke of England did not disappoint him. Late that night, just as Zhao Xing fell asleep, the Duke of England's victory news arrived.

In the victory report, the Duke of Ying gave a brief account of the process. He used gunpowder to scare the cavalry sent by the Liao Kingdom.

It was already dawn at that time, and the Duke of Ying took advantage of the Liao army's chaotic escape and sent out cavalry to pursue them.

The pursuit did not produce much results, but it left the Liao army soldiers with no time to control their horses, which prolonged the time the horses were in panic.

The Duke of Ying did not have time to count the results of this battle in detail. He only made a rough estimate that most of the hundreds of thousands of Liao cavalry who launched the surprise attack should have been lost.

The number of casualties among Liao soldiers was not high; only tens of thousands were killed or injured by falling off their horses or being trampled.

The reason why most of the casualties were caused was referring to the war horses.

The war horses were extremely frightened and ran around in panic, many of them injured their hooves.

Some war horses were even so frightened that they kept running until they died of exhaustion.

Without horses, half of the cavalry would be useless.

After all, they have been training on horseback for a long time, and all their skills can only be displayed on horseback.

Without war horses, their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, even inferior to that of walking legs.

Treating these people as foot soldiers is actually no different from sending them to their deaths.

The Liao Kingdom was also reluctant to do so. Even though it had many war horses, the loss was very painful for it.

Next, even if war horses are dispatched, it will take time to train and integrate the soldiers and horses.

Although cavalrymen have riding skills, cavalrymen are completely different from ordinary horse riding.

Soldiers need training to form an army, and the same goes for war horses.

No matter how strong and fast a horse is, it cannot be considered a war horse without training.

In other words, although the Duke of Ying's plan did not cause much casualties, it temporarily disabled 100,000 cavalrymen of the Liao Kingdom.

This time Yelu Yixin was seriously injured and would be unable to launch a counterattack in a short period of time. The two sides would probably have to fall into a period of peace.

The British Duke's victory report also mentioned at the end that he had originally wanted to launch a sneak attack while Xijing's military forces were weak.

However, the defenders of Xijing City were very cautious and did not succeed.

There is still a sense of regret in the words.

If they could recapture Xijing City, even if the Liao army was not seriously injured, the Song Dynasty would have a certain chance of holding on to the conquered territory by building a defense line with Xijing and Youzhou City.

If Xijing is not taken, and the Liao Kingdom recovers, there will still be a war in the north in the future.

Zhao Xing didn't care about this. He only needed some time to quell the rebellion in the Central Plains. After the Central Plains returned to normal, even if the Liao Kingdom did not counterattack, he would accumulate strength and launch another Northern Expedition.

However, Zhao Xing now has a headache to deal with.

In this Northern Expedition, the Duke of Ying made great contributions. As the war was not over yet, Zhao Xu could still delay the reward.

We will take a defensive stance next and will not initiate any offensive actions in the short term.

As long as we can ensure that the Liao Kingdom does not launch a counterattack for the time being, the war will be over.

It is imperative to reward people according to their merits.

The Duke of Yingguo was already a duke and was also Zhao Xing's father-in-law, so he was almost deserving of any reward.

Zhao Xing didn't know what reward to give for a moment. After dawn the next day, he circulated the victory report to Zhang Qingzhi and others, asking them to put aside the matter of relocating the people and formulate rewards.

This time, Zhao Xing led the army in person, and Zhang Qingzhi and some Hanlin officials accompanied him.

The officials of the Hanlin Academy were equivalent to the emperor's secretaries. It was their duty to draft imperial edicts for Zhao Xing and handle some trivial government affairs.

When Zhang Qingzhi heard Zhao Xing ask them to formulate rewards, he did not think much about it, but the other officials could not help but think about the deeper meaning behind it.

In theory, rewards for military generals should not be formulated by them.

Zeng Gongliang is the Privy Councilor, and this kind of thing is his duty. He is also on the front line now.

Moreover, when drawing up rewards, we should wait until the commander-in-chief, the Duke of England, reports for merit, and then draw up the rewards based on the size of the merit.

But now the Duke of England has not yet asked for credit, but the government has asked them to draft the reward, which is thought-provoking.

As for the officials of the Hanlin Academy, they assisted the government in handling government affairs and also had to give advice to the government on some matters.

Therefore, they must figure out the officials' thoughts.

These people were all smart people and they quickly guessed that Zhao Xing didn't know how to reward the Duke of England.

A Hanlin official's eyes flickered, and he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

"Prelude!"

Zhao Xing recognized the person who made the report. He was the runner-up in the same exam as Sheng Changbai, named Hu Xin.

After passing the imperial examination, this person entered the Hanlin Academy, where he now works as an editor, responsible for drafting imperial edicts and handling some confidential documents.

Hu Xin said, "I have heard that every time the Duke of England conquered a city, some of the wealthy families in the city would send him generous gifts, and the Duke of England never refused them and accepted them all."

Although the wealthy families in those cities followed the fleeing Liao army, only the richest families in the city fled.

The more ordinary ones did not escape.

"Is this true?" Zhao Xing frowned slightly. "Why didn't you report this before?"

"Your Majesty, I only heard about it at first and was worried that it was a counter-espionage plot by the Liao Kingdom, who deliberately released the news to slander the Duke of Yingguo, so I dared not speak out. It was only after I sent people to investigate that I confirmed yesterday that this matter was true." Hu Xin said.

Zhao Xing glanced at Hu Xin deeply. How could it be such a coincidence? He was afraid that Hu Xin mistakenly thought that he asked them to draft the reward and was worried about the reward for the Duke of England.

By impeaching the Duke of Ying at this time, Zhao Xing could completely offset his merits and demerits.

But Zhao Xing had no such intention at all. He was indeed a little troubled about the reward for the Duke of England.

But he did not want to use some means to reward the Duke of England.

The reason why he asked these people to formulate the rewards was because he really didn't know how to reward.

Considering the Duke of England's contributions, if he was only rewarded with some money, it would definitely be too little.

But the next level of title is king. Since Liu Bang made the White Horse Alliance in the early Han Dynasty, no one other than the Liu family could be crowned king. In the following dynasties, although there was no explicit regulation, it had become an unspoken rule that people without the same family could not be crowned king.

Generally speaking, if a person of a different surname is made a king, it is because he is extremely powerful and has to be made a king, unless he is made a king posthumously.

The person who was crowned king also became a thorn in the emperor's side.

To be honest, Zhao Xing was not opposed to being crowned king. The title of nobility in the Song Dynasty only came with salary, but no fiefdom or military force.

Even if he is crowned king, it just sounds nice and has little practical significance.

But conferring the title of king is a taboo in itself. Even if he, the emperor, does not care, the emperor emeritus and all the civil and military officials in the court will not agree.

If Zhao Xing were to be crowned king by force, all the civil and military officials in the court would target the Duke of Ying.

He asked these people to draft the rewards, just hoping that they could come up with rewards that were both commensurate with the Duke of England's merits and not taboo.

Hu Xin misunderstood and actually impeached the Duke of Ying. This shows that this person has evil intentions.

However, Zhao Xing had never heard of this matter. Since Hu Xin dared to say it, it must be true.

The Duke of England didn't even draw a salary from the army without doing any work, so would he try to make huge profits when the emperor himself was leading the army?
Zhao Xing's first thought was that the Duke of Ying was defiled himself.

Self-pollution was the most popular means of self-protection used by ancient military commanders.

Almost all the famous generals in ancient times who had a good ending had defiled themselves.

For example, when Wang Jian led his troops to destroy Chu, Cheng wrote to Ying Zheng many times to ask for houses and money.

This is self-pollution.

There was also Wu Qi, a famous general in the Warring States Period, who once defiled himself.

To defile oneself is to damage one's own reputation.

A military general with a good reputation, high morals, and great contributions will be very popular among the people and will naturally be feared by the king.

However, no matter how great his contributions are, the king will be much less wary of a general with a bad reputation.

Most importantly, they gave the king an advantage by defaming themselves.

In the eyes of the king, he can clean up whenever he wants without worrying about affecting his reputation.

In addition, since the other party is not power-hungry, there is naturally no need for him to bear the blame and deal with the heroes.

Among the emperors who killed their meritorious officials, Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang are representative figures.

But in fact, the two men killed the generals because they were too suspicious, and those generals themselves also had flaws.

Li Shimin did not kill his meritorious officials, but few people know that the reason why Li Shimin did not kill them was not because he was broad-minded, but because his meritorious officials were smart enough.

Like Changsun Wuji, Li Shimin rewarded and promoted him many times after he ascended the throne.

Historical records also record that Empress Changsun personally advised Li Shimin not to reward his relatives too much.

Li Shimin refused to listen, so Empress Changsun went to persuade Changsun Wuji again. Later, Changsun Wuji repeatedly pleaded to resign, and with Empress Changsun's persuasion, Changsun Wuji finally resigned from the position of prime minister.

At first glance, Li Shimin trusted Zhangsun Wuji, Empress Zhangsun knew the overall situation, and Zhangsun Wuji knew when to advance and retreat.

But in fact, if Li Shimin really wanted Zhangsun Wuji to take up an important position, there was no need to promote him continuously.

You know, Li Shimin first appointed him as the Minister of Personnel and Duke of Qi, and then promoted him to Prime Minister in the same year.

Li Shimin could have let him serve as the Minister of Personnel for a few years, or directly appointed him as Prime Minister.

It can be said that by doing this, Li Shimin was encouraging him to resign voluntarily.

This can be seen from the fact that Li Shimin conferred the title on Zhangsun Wuji after agreeing to it.

Li Shimin agreed to Zhangsun Wuji's resignation as prime minister and changed his title to Kaifu Yitong Sansi.

Please note that here he was only conferred the title of Kaifu Yitong Sansi, without any specific official position.

In theory, if Li Shimin really wanted to use Zhangsun Wuji, he could have retained his original position as Minister of Personnel.

But Li Shimin did not do so. He only conferred him the title of Kaifu Yitong Sansi without any specific official title.

What does "Kaifu Yitong Sansi" mean? It means that officials are allowed to set up offices and recruit staff.

Later, during the reign of Li Shimin, Changsun Wuji served as Sikong and Taizi Taifu successively, but never held an actual position in the court.

The Tang Dynasty implemented the Three Provinces and Six Ministries. The Three Dukes only had a high status in name but had no real power at all. The heads of the three provinces were the prime ministers.

It was not until the year before Li Shimin's death that Zhangsun Wuji actually became prime minister.

The purpose of Li Shimin doing this was also to enable Changsun Wuji to assist Li Zhi after his death.

To put it bluntly, it was Changsun Wuji's honesty over the years that made Li Shimin truly trust him.

In addition to Changsun Wuji, there is also Li Jing. Li Jing was a military general, but after destroying DTZ, he was promoted to Shangshu Pushe, or prime minister.

A military general was promoted to prime minister, which showed at a glance that there was no more reward for him.

Li Jing was also smart. He used his old illness as an excuse to stay at home and almost never interact with the civil and military officials in the court.

Later, when Li Shimin needed it, Li Jing's old illness would be temporarily cured for a period of time, but after the war, the old illness would relapse again.

Let me ask, who would be willing to kill such a sensible minister?

Therefore, whether the emperor kills his meritorious officials actually depends on whether the officials are smart enough and whether they can make the emperor trust them.

Zhao Xing did not expect that the Duke of England would choose to defile himself.

But he only knew about this now.

Are they afraid to speak out, or do they want to wait until the British get more before exposing it?

Or maybe it's both?
Zhao Xing shook his head and said, "I will have someone investigate this matter."

…………

After Duke Ying led the army back to the city, he arranged the defenses and rushed to Bazhou City with a team of cavalry and Zeng Gongliang.

Now the Liao Kingdom has suffered a great loss and is unable to launch a counterattack in a short period of time.

Naturally, he had to meet Zhao Xing, report the battle situation in person, and ask about the next plans.

Although the plan was successful, the Duke of England was not at all happy.

Because he accepted bribes and wanted to discredit himself, he did not achieve the desired effect.

Now that he has made great contributions, the civil officials in the court will definitely target him next.

He is old and is not worried about himself. He is worried about the impact on his daughter.

"Old Duke, you don't need to do this."

Zeng Gongliang saw that Duke Ying was worried and guessed what he was worried about. He said meaningfully, "Your Majesty is different from the officials of previous dynasties."

"Thank you, Privy Councilor Zeng." Duke Ying shook his head and said, "I wonder if the Liao Kingdom will launch a counterattack next."

Zeng Gongliang heard this and didn't say much.

This kind of thing is inherently sensitive and not suitable for long discussions.

…………

"Your Majesty, Empress Dowager Xiao is missing!"

Sanshui walked into the house in a hurry, without even bothering to greet, and spoke quickly.

"what?"

Zhao Xing was so shocked when he heard this that he dropped the book in his hand.

He ignored the fallen books and asked grimly, "Why is the person missing? Where is the guard?"

"Your Majesty, a secret passage was discovered in the courtyard where Empress Dowager Xiao lived. The servants serving in the courtyard were all tied up. The guards outside saw that no one had come out this morning, and there was no response after they knocked on the door, so they sent people in to check."

(End of this chapter)