I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 170 First Battle a Victory, Taking One State

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War is never the only way to solve problems. Politics and diplomacy are also effective means of resolving issues.

Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers knew that the Liao Kingdom had suffered a disaster this year, with severe famine occurring in various regions.

Therefore, Zhao Yu instructed Han Zhongyan to post a yellow notice in the name of the Pacification Commissioner's Office, informing the officials and people of Yanjing that the Zhao Song Dynasty had grain, and that regardless of whether they were Han or non-Han, young or old, men or women, they could come to Hebei to surrender to the Zhao Song Dynasty. The court would provide them with food and arrange for them to cultivate wasteland, and all the fertile land they acquired would belong to them personally. Furthermore, if they were to offer up prefectures or counties, they would surely be promoted and made rich!
The proclamation for surrender reads as follows:
The Youyan region, originally our territory, has been subjugated by the Khitan for nearly two hundred years. Recently, the Khitan have suffered from natural disasters and man-made calamities, leading to widespread suffering among their people. Our great emperor grieves for these good people, who have been subjected to further misery. Now, I am personally leading a large army to the border to punish them and bring them to justice. My aim is to save the people, not to indiscriminately kill. You should all strive to return home as soon as possible.

The imperial court has already established soup kitchens throughout Hebei, where all who come can eat. Those with official positions will be reinstated, and those with land will resume their original occupations. Those who can lead heroes and achieve outstanding results will be granted preferential official positions and generous rewards of gold and silk. Those who surrender with a prefecture or county will be appointed to that prefecture or county; if heroes come from Yanjing (Beijing) to offer themselves up, regardless of whether they are soldiers or civilians, even if they are not appointed officials, they will be granted the position of military governor, given 100,000 strings of cash, and a large mansion…

It is not difficult to see that the posture adopted by Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers was not simply to prevent the Liao army from advancing south, but to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun.

Some might ask, has the strategic goal of Zhao Yu and his ministers changed? Are they really planning to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun while recovering Western Xia, forcing the Liao Dynasty to mobilize its entire nation to fight them to the death?

of course not.

The Analects says: Aim high, and you will achieve something; aim for the middle, and you will achieve something lower; aim low, and you will achieve nothing.

Sun Tzu's Art of War states: Aim for the highest goal, and you will achieve the middle; aim for the middle, and you will achieve the lowest; aim for the lowest, and you will surely fail.

Emperor Taizong of Tang wrote in Volume Four of "Imperial Model": "If one takes the highest as one's model, one can only achieve the middle; if one takes the middle as one's model, one will be inferior."

These statements all mean that if a person sets a high goal, they may still only achieve a medium level; if they set a medium goal, they may only achieve a low level; and if they set a low goal, they may not achieve anything at all.

Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers discussed and decided to first intimidate the Liao Dynasty by taking the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun as their goal, so as to force the Liao Dynasty not to interfere with the Song Dynasty's recovery of Western Xia, and even more so, not to send troops to Western Xia to reinforce it.

Zeng Bu ordered the recruitment of warriors from Xiongzhou, instructing them to carry the proclamation across the border and deep into Liao territory to post and distribute it everywhere.

The yellow notices of surrender issued in the name of the Pacification Commissioner were distributed to Yizhou, Zhuozhou, Yanjing and other places in the Liao Kingdom.

While keeping a close eye on the war, Zhao Yu and his ministers patiently awaited good news in Xiongzhou.

Soon, a large number of disaster victims chose to enter the country.

Chen Gou and other border officials had already prepared thick porridge and registered the disaster victims. Those with useful talents were retained and employed, while those without were all relocated to the interior for proper resettlement.

In the first few days, among those who came to surrender, there were no officials, no particularly useful people, and not a single person offered up their prefecture or county.

Zhao Yu and his ministers were not in a hurry, because they were not there to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, but to hold back the Liao Kingdom, so they were not afraid.

To Zhao Yu's utter surprise, just seven or eight days later, a famous Liao official disguised himself as a famine victim and came to surrender to the Song Dynasty.

This person is Zhao Liangsi, who in history offered the plan to "ally with the Jin to destroy the Liao and recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun".

However, at this time, Zhao Liangsi was still called Ma Zhi.

Historically, when Tong Guan was sent as an envoy to the Liao Dynasty, Zhao Liangsi secretly met with Tong Guan and offered the strategy of "allying with the Jin to destroy the Liao." He suggested that the Song Dynasty send people across the sea to contact the Jurchens and jointly attack the Liao Dynasty in order to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun.

Tong Guan brought him back to the Song Dynasty, where Emperor Huizong bestowed upon him the surname Zhao, and Ma Zhi changed his name to Zhao Liangsi. He served successively as Secretary Assistant and Director of the Dragon Pavilion, and during the Xuanhe era, he went to the Jin Dynasty seven times to negotiate an attack on the Liao Dynasty, and was promoted to Grand Master of the Palace.

After numerous diplomatic exchanges and negotiations, the Song and Jin dynasties finally signed the "Alliance at Sea." The agreement stipulated that Jin would attack Liao's Zhongjing (modern-day Liao capital), while Song would capture the Yanjing area. Upon success, Yanjing would belong to Song, and Song would pay Jin 200,000 taels of silver and 300,000 bolts of silk. However, Song delayed its military campaign due to the Fang La Rebellion, and the Song army performed poorly in the attack on Yanjing, ultimately leading to its capture by the Jin army. Subsequently, Zhao Liangsi was ordered to negotiate the fulfillment of the treaty with the Jin dynasty. Due to Song's weak military and Emperor Huizong's (Zhao Ji's) explicit request for Yanjing and its surrounding prefectures and counties, Song was at a disadvantage in the negotiations.

Later, Zhang Jue, a Han Chinese general from the former Liao Dynasty, surrendered to the Jin Dynasty and then switched allegiance to the Song Dynasty. Emperor Huizong and most of his court officials gladly accepted this, but Zhao Liangsi firmly opposed it, believing that this move would anger the Jin Dynasty. However, Emperor Huizong and his ministers did not listen, and Zhao Liangsi was punished and dismissed from his post as a result.

Later, when the Jin army invaded the south, Zhao Liangsi was impeached by the censor for "recklessly provoking border conflicts and inviting the Jin invaders," and was demoted to Chenzhou and executed.

The History of Song lists Zhao Liangsi as a treacherous minister, but in reality, his strategy was to recover Yan and Yun. The strategy itself was not wrong. It was only during the execution that Emperor Huizong and his ministers made frequent mistakes, and the Song army performed too poorly, which later led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, making him a controversial figure.

Zhao Yu knew about Zhao Liangsi's deeds and knew that he had worked very hard after surrendering to the Song Dynasty, so he could be given an important position.

The crucial point is that Zhao Yu now needs a fortune to buy horse bones.

Therefore, Zhao Yu personally received Zhao Liangsi.

Although Zhao Liangsi rose to the position of Guanglu Qing during the Liao Dynasty, his Han Chinese identity limited him in the Liao court and made it difficult for him to enter the core of power.

At this time, the Liao Dynasty was still corrupt, and the Khitan nobles discriminated against and oppressed other ethnic groups.

Against this backdrop, Zhao Liangsi, a Han official, would not even give a second glance to Yelü Yanxi, the emperor of the Liao Dynasty, let alone Yelü Yanxi, or even to high-ranking Khitan officials.

In reality, the main reason Zhao Liangsi defected to the Song Dynasty was because the Liao Dynasty had recently held a grand court banquet, and Zhao Liangsi was among the invitees. At the banquet, the Khitan nobles indulged in fine wine and food, displaying arrogance towards Han officials and officials of other ethnicities. Seeing this, Zhao Liangsi was deeply dissatisfied and disillusioned with the Liao Dynasty's rule. He realized that in such a court, he would find it difficult to achieve anything significant or realize his ambitions.

Furthermore, during his time in the Liao Dynasty, Zhao Liangsi witnessed firsthand the brutal exploitation and oppression of the Han people in the Yan-Yun region by the Khitan nobles. The Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun were originally inhabited by Han people, but after being occupied by the Liao, the local Han population suffered greatly. Zhao Liangsi felt sympathy for this situation and developed a stronger aversion to Liao rule, which solidified his resolve to return to the Song Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Zhao Liangsi joined the Zhao Song Dynasty, Emperor Zhao Yu personally received him.

This greatly encouraged Zhao Liangsi.

What Zhao Liangsi didn't expect was that Zhao Yu actually took an hour to talk to him about the situation in Liao and listened carefully to his views on Liao.

Later, Zhao Yu wanted to bestow the imperial surname "Zhao" upon Ma Zhi. Zhang Chun, who liked to name people, wrote the two characters "Liang Si" under the table. When Zhao Yu saw this, he took the opportunity to name Ma Zhi "Zhao Liang Si".

Zhao Yu appointed Zhao Liangsi as his secretary and chief advisor, and stated that he would not hesitate to reward him if he could achieve merit.

Zhao Liangsi was deeply moved. He knew that although he had lofty ambitions, he had once been overlooked in the Liao Kingdom. Now that he had met a wise ruler, he was determined to repay the kindness of his benefactor with his life. He knelt on the ground, his voice choked with emotion: "Your Majesty has treated me so kindly. I will do my utmost to recover Yizhou for Your Majesty."

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, Zhuozhou and Yizhou were still under the control of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Until the first year of the Duan Gong era, when the Liao army once again marched south, Li Jilong, the garrison commander of Dingzhou, transferred the Jingse cavalry from Yizhou to Dingzhou. Most of the land in Zhuozhou and Yizhou was captured by the Liao state, and of the counties formerly belonging to Yizhou, only Suicheng remained under the control of the Zhao Song dynasty. The Zhao Song dynasty established the Ansu and Guangxin armies in this area, and gained the southern border of Mancheng to strengthen Baozhou. From then on, most of the land in Yizhou disappeared from the territory of the Zhao Song dynasty.

If Zhao Yu manages to recapture Yizhou during his northward expedition, although it may not have much practical value, proper publicity would greatly enhance his prestige.

Without further ado, Zhao Yu said to Zhao Liangsi, "If you, my dear minister, can recover Yizhou for me, I will certainly not fail you."

In addition to this promise, Zhao Yu also gave Zhao Liangsi a full 1,000 catties of garlic-shaped gold, which Zhao Liangsi was to use for bribery.

Zhao Liangsi felt an unprecedented surge of passion and loyalty. He knew that this was Zhao Yu's unconditional trust and expectation of him. He declared firmly, "Your Majesty, I will certainly live up to your high expectations and vow to bring Yizhou back into the territory of our Great Song Dynasty!"

Soon, Zhao Liangsi requested twenty men and twenty horses from the Pacification Commissioner's Office, along with gold, and headed to Yizhou. Zhao Liangsi was confident in bringing Yizhou into the territory of the Zhao Song Dynasty because the current governor of Yizhou was Li Chuwen.

During the Liao Dynasty, Zhao Liangsi formed a close friendship with Li Chuwen. Seeing Yelü Yanxi's moral failings, the two considered fleeing south to the Song Dynasty together. They even made a pact at the Beiji Temple in Yanjing (Beijing) to jointly destroy the Khitan.

It was precisely because of this that Zhao Liangsi was certain that as long as he went to find Li Chuwen, Li Chuwen would definitely surrender Yizhou to the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Yizhou is located southwest of Yanjing (the capital of Yan), about two hundred li away. To the west lie towering mountains, and to the east, a vast plain stretches out. It is named after the Yi River. During the Warring States period, Prince Dan of Yan bid farewell to the brave warrior Jing Ke on his journey south to assassinate the King of Qin, clasping his hands in farewell on the banks of the Yi River. "The wind howls, the Yi River is cold; the brave warrior departs, never to return."

When Zhao Liangsi arrived in Yizhou, he had a conversation with Li Chuwen, and the two surprisingly found themselves on the same page.

What Zhao Liangsi didn't know was that when Li Chuwen was sent as an envoy to the Zhao Song Dynasty, Zhao Yu had sent someone to contact him, hoping to get him to act as an inside agent.

At the time, Li Chuwen was very interested, but he still had expectations for the Liao Dynasty. He hoped that after the change of emperor, the political environment in the Liao Dynasty would improve and he would be given an important position, so he did not agree to the Zhao Song Dynasty's offer of alliance.

Unexpectedly, Yelü Yanxi was even worse than Yelü Hongji. He was more incompetent, which made the political environment in the Liao Kingdom even worse, and Han officials had no chance of advancement.

This made Li Chuwen despair of the Liao Kingdom.

It was against this backdrop that Li Chuwen and Zhao Liangsi agreed to go and serve the Song Dynasty together.

In addition, Li Chuwen's entire family was in Yizhou. With the Song-Liao war imminent, Yizhou, being at the forefront of the conflict, would inevitably be drawn into it. Li Chuwen was worried about how to get out of the situation.

Now, with Zhao Liangsi's recommendation and Zhao Liangsi's high praise of Zhao Yu, Li Chuwen made up his mind to submit to the Zhao Song Dynasty. He said:
"We should immediately send someone to Xiongzhou to contact His Majesty and explain our family's intention to return south. When the Song army marches north to Yizhou, we will slaughter all the Khitans in the city, cooperate from within and without, and surrender the city to the Song. What do you think?"

Zhao Liangsi said, “Excellent! But who should we send to Xiongzhou? This matter is of great importance, and the person must be extremely reliable.”

Zhao Liangsi knew that Li Chuwen would definitely be worried if he went back.

Moreover, Zhao Liangsi was also afraid that Li Chuwen would change his mind after he left, which is why he asked Li Chuwen to send someone.

Without any hesitation, Li Chuwen sent his younger brother, Li Chuneng, to Xiongzhou overnight with Zhao Liangsi's letter.

On this day, Zhao Yu was studying the terrain of the Yan-Yun region with Li Lin, Zhang Chun, Zeng Bu, Han Zhongyan, Su Zhe, Cai Bian, Guo Cheng, Zhong Pu, Sun Lu, Zong Ze, Wang Bing, and others.

—They had even personally boarded a hot air balloon and used binoculars to survey the entire Yan region from the sky.

Suddenly someone came to report: "Your Majesty, there is a man named Li Chuneng outside the gate who wants to see you, saying that he has important matters to tell you."

Upon hearing this name, Zhang Chun immediately nodded to Zhao Yu, indicating that the person could be seen.

Li Yan and Chen Gou also reported to Zhao Yu that Li Chuneng was Li Chuwen's younger brother and could be met.

Zhao Yu also knew that Li Chuneng had served the Song Dynasty in history and was later given to the Jurchens by Emperor Huan of Song, so he readily said, "Let him in."

After Li Chuneng entered, he immediately handed Zhao Liangsi's letter to Zhao Yu.

Li Yan took Zhao Liangsi's letter on Zhao Yu's behalf, carefully examined it, and found no problems before handing it over to Zhao Yu.

After reviewing the documents, Zhao Yu smiled and asked, "How many troops does Yizhou currently have?"

Li Chuneng hurriedly replied, "We currently have five thousand men, all of whom are willing to obey Your Majesty's orders."

Zhao Yu readily agreed, “Very well! Go back immediately and instruct Minister Li and Minister Zhao to prepare. Tomorrow, my army will arrive at the walls of Yizhou and we will ask them to open the gates and surrender the city. After the matter is accomplished, I will reward them according to their merits and will never break my promise.”

Li Chuneng was overjoyed and immediately went back to report the news.

Zhao Yu was afraid that others would not be able to handle such a big matter, so he personally appointed the reliable Qiu Yu and the capable Zhai Xing.

To be on the safe side, Zhao Yu not only allowed Zhai Xing to lead 5,000 new soldiers, but also gave him 500 Shenji soldiers, just in case.

After receiving their orders, Qiu Yu and Zhai Xing immediately led their troops north.

Not far from Yizhou, a scout suddenly returned to report that dust was billowing on the main road ahead, and a troop of soldiers was seen galloping towards them from afar.

Some believe this might be the men sent by Li Chuwen to greet them.

Zhai Xing said casually, "We'll find out by checking."

Zhai Xing immediately ordered his scouts to take a look from a high vantage point with binoculars.

Soon, the scouts discovered that the approaching force was actually three thousand Liao soldiers. They quickly used flag signals to notify Zhai Xing.

In fact, this was a Niulan Army that had come from the ancient Yan City.

The so-called Niulan Army refers to the army commanded by the Niulan Commandery. As early as the reign of Emperor Shengzong of Liao, in order to defend against the Song army, the Liao state established the "Niulan Commandery" in Niulan Mountain, which was subordinate to the Nanjing Grand Marshal's Office. It had two subordinate "Jianjunzhai Commandery" and "Shimen Commandery". The two armies were mutually supportive, and the defensive range was more than 700 li east and west along the Baigou River on the border between the Song and Liao states.

Upon hearing that the Song army had crossed the border and headed north, the Niulan Army immediately led more than 3,000 Niulan soldiers out of the city to meet them head-on.

Zhai Xing immediately formed ranks to meet the enemy.

Under Zhai Xing's deliberate control, the Shenji Army defeated the Niulan Army without using the Tiger Crouching Cannon or the Thunderclap Bomb, relying solely on the Divine Arm Bow. Zhai Xing personally led the cavalry from the new army to pursue them for ten miles before withdrawing.

After hearing that the Song army had defeated the Niulan army as soon as they arrived, Li Chuwen and Zhao Liangsi ordered Li Chuwen's son, Li Shi, to begin massacring the Khitans in the city according to the pre-arranged plan, especially those surnamed Yelü, to behead them all without exception, eliminating them completely.

Although the Khitan population in Yizhou City was not large, it was a time of bloodshed and terror.

By the time Qiu Yu and Zhai Xing led the Song army to the walls of Yizhou, the Khitan people inside the city had already been wiped out by Li Shi and his men.

Upon hearing the news, Li Chuwen and his son hurriedly went out of the city with Zhao Liangsi to welcome them.

Upon exiting the city, Li Chuwen and his son immediately noticed that the Song army was well-disciplined, well-equipped, and had an imposing presence. Moreover, they exuded a chilling aura that inspired awe.

Seeing this, Li Chuwen and his son were completely relieved, and they quickly welcomed Qiu Yu, Zhai Xing, and the others into the city...

……

(End of this chapter)