The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 367 To harm someone, you must harm them to death.

Upon hearing Qin Hui's instructions, Yue Wenxuan felt a strange unease. He thought, "I'm manipulating a group of corrupt officials behind the scenes to oust a good one. Something feels off. What could it be?"
Oh, it's my conscience that's protesting.

Well then, after Fu Songqing is taken down, we'll send him to the Northern Song Dynasty and give him a good official position. That would be doing justice to a good official.

For the next few days, Yue Wenxuan had Jing Ke stay temporarily at Qin Hui's residence.

Qin Hui arranged a private courtyard for Jing Ke and assigned a large group of maids to serve him, treating him with even more care than he would his own ancestors.

Meanwhile, he and a group of officials with whom he had good relations began to rack their brains to arrange for Fu Songqing to be removed.

In general, political struggles follow the same pattern: finding evidence of corruption, bribery, or oppression of innocent people to bring someone down. It is never possible to use reasons such as "the other party's political views differ from one's own" or "the other party belongs to a different faction" to bring someone down.

Qin Hui's faction began desperately searching for evidence of Fu Songqing's embezzlement and bribery.

However, something interesting happened: Fu Songqing actually had no scandals!
There was no embezzlement or bribery, no oppression of good people...

Qin Hui dug hard, but apart from finding the red news that Fu Songqing did not collude with the Taoists, he couldn't find a single black mark.

This left Qin Hui's faction dumbfounded.

How can you possibly take down someone like that?
Weng Shun suggested, "Let's just stop digging up dirt and arrest him! After arresting him, we can dismiss him on trumped-up charges."

Qin Hui: "I am just the Minister of Rites, not the Prime Minister. I don't have the power to arrest the imperial envoy. Such a pretext is untenable unless I become the Prime Minister."

Gao Yigong: "But our father from the Northern Song Dynasty is still waiting. If we don't act effectively, the Northern Song Dynasty will punish us."

The three of them were covered in sweat...

Yue Wenxuan watched their performance with a cold eye, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Just then, a trusted servant rushed in and said quickly, "Master, something terrible has happened."

Qin Hui: "?"

Servant: "Liu Yu of the pseudo-Qi regime has dispatched General Wang Yanxian to attack Shouchun. His army is about to reach the city walls of Shouchun."

Yue Wenxuan thought to himself: Huh? The pseudo-Qi Kingdom actually has such actions? Interesting! It seems that the pseudo-Qi Kingdom is not too afraid to cause trouble for the Northern Song Dynasty, so it simply avoids the Huainan East Road controlled by the Northern Song Dynasty and sends troops from the Huainan West Road to attack the Southern Song Dynasty.

Shouchun is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and in real history, it was bound to fall to the Japanese!
Thinking of this, Yue Wenxuan casually switched his consciousness out of the sand table and searched on the computer. Sure enough, in real history, the pseudo-Qi state attacked Shouchun in December 1131 and fought with the Southern Song for more than 100 days under the city of Shouchun. In February 1132, the Qi state occupied Shouchun, causing the Southern Song to further lose control of the north bank of the Yangtze River.

After checking the information, he switched back to Jing Ke when he heard Qin Hui exclaim with delight, "Heaven is helping us! It's perfect timing for the pseudo-Qi state to attack now. We have a way to bring down Fu Songqing!"

Yue Wenxuan thought to himself: Huh? The pseudo-Qi Kingdom is attacking such an important place as Shouchun. As a Southern Song official, you should first consider how to defend the city and ensure that the territory is not lost. Instead, your first thought is to use this incident to bring down Fu Songqing? Your way of thinking is indeed that of a treacherous minister.

He couldn't help but ask, "Lord Qin, what are your plans?"

Qin Hui adopted the air of a subordinate reporting to his superior, speaking in a serious tone: "This humble official intends to immediately go to Your Majesty's court to advise you to send Zhang Jun and Liu Guangshi to relieve the siege of Shouchun. At the same time, I will submit a memorial impeaching Fu Songqing, saying that he is ignorant of military strategy and only knows how to act recklessly. At this critical moment, we should be prioritizing dealing with the puppet Qi regime, yet he is wasting troops in Huainan East Road, urging his soldiers to fight against the Northern Song. This is tantamount to aiding the enemy, helping the puppet Qi regime seize our Shouchun. If Shouchun falls because of this, it will be Fu Songqing's responsibility." Yue Wenxuan: "..."

Alright! A treacherous minister, indeed a treacherous minister, so damn despicable, he even came up with this excuse.

However, Qin Hui did not feel ashamed at all. He immediately cleaned himself up, put on a beautiful official robe, and went to the palace to see Zhao Gou. At the same time, his large group of cronies also received the news and went to the palace to meet the emperor.

A group of people surrounded Zhao Gou, each saying that Fu Songqing did not understand strategy and acted recklessly, which caused Zhang Jun and Liu Guangshi to be tied up in Huainan East Road, busy dealing with the Northern Song Dynasty, leaving Shouchun vulnerable and allowing the puppet Qi state to take advantage of the situation.

Zhao Gou was also a fool; he didn't understand strategy at all, and he thought their slanderous words made a lot of sense.

The Northern Song Dynasty hadn't advanced south after capturing Chuzhou, so it could have been temporarily ignored. Why did Fu Songqing insist on retaking Chuzhou and provoking war? Now look what happened! The puppet Qi regime seized the opportunity to attack!

This is indeed Fu Songqing's responsibility.

Can’t go wrong!

Zhao Gou wrote with a flourish: "Order Liu Guangshi and Zhang Jun to immediately send troops to rescue Shouchun, and dismiss Fu Songqing from his post."

Qin Hui, who was not happy unless he killed someone, immediately continued to advise: "Your Majesty, let Fu Songqing have a chance to redeem himself. Since he started the trouble, he should be the one to put it out. Why not let him redeem himself by going to the Northern Song Dynasty as an envoy, pretending to negotiate peace with the Northern Song? As long as he can keep the Northern Song from starting a war, we can free up our hands to rescue Shouchun and at the same time deal with the pseudo-Chu state established by the Manichaean heretics."

Zhao Gou thought about it carefully and realized, "That's right!"

The Southern Song Dynasty was also in dire straits, with its battle lines stretched thin. Not only did it have to fight the puppet Qi regime in Shouchun, but it also had to besiege the puppet Chu regime in Hunan, suppress Cao Cheng in Jiangxi, and fight the Jin army in southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan...

The Southern Song Dynasty was simply too busy to handle everything!
At this point, it would be better to feign peace talks with the seventeenth brother, or at least quell the false Chu regime first, and then figure out a way to deal with the seventeenth brother.

Zhao Gou thought for a moment and nodded: "Order Fu Songqing to atone for his crimes by going to Chuzhou to meet those traitors and appease them. If he can persuade them to surrender, that would be the best outcome."

Qin Hui was overjoyed, secretly laughing to himself: Excellent! Fu Songqing is doomed now. Young Master Yue wants me to get rid of Fu Songqing, which means he really hates Fu Songqing. If I send him on a mission to the Northern Song Dynasty, he will definitely die there. Even if he doesn't die, he will be exiled and never return.

These days, although it is customary not to kill envoys during wartime, if an envoy is extremely disliked by the other side, he will not be able to return.

The most typical example is Zhang Shao.

In 1129 AD, the Southern Song Dynasty sent Zhang Shao as an envoy to the Jin Dynasty. When Zhang Shao met Talan, Talan ordered him to perform a formal bow. Zhang Shao responded with eloquence, stating that as subjects of their respective lords, there was no need for such a formality. He further argued that warfare was not about strength or weakness, but about right and wrong, and that the Jin people's unauthorized division of Song territory with Liu Yu and their relentless military campaigns were unreasonable. Talan was enraged and imprisoned Zhang Shao at Zuoshan Fortress. Zhang Shao was later exiled by the Jin to Heilongjiang and other areas, remaining in the Jin state for fifteen years before being released back to the Southern Song.

Qin Hui had met Zhang Shao while he was in the Jin Dynasty. After Qin Hui was captured, he was given to Talai by the Jin ruler and was highly trusted by Talai, who appointed him as a military advisor and later as a transport commissioner accompanying the army. However, Zhang Shao was unaware of the truth. When he saw that Qin Hui was also "detained in the Jin Dynasty," he hurriedly asked about the situation of Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of Song. Qin Hui lied to him, and Zhang Shao mistakenly believed him, thinking that Qin Hui was suffering in the Jin Dynasty like himself but still had the Song Dynasty in his heart. He left in tears.

Fifteen years later, Zhang Shao was released back to the Southern Song Dynasty. He still believed that Qin Hui was a good person and continued to speak well of him in court. He was truly being sold out and still helping to count the money.

Qin Hui was thinking that Fu Songqing's personality was very similar to Zhang Shao's. He was sent to the Northern Song Dynasty as an envoy and never came back. Hahaha, when you're going to harm someone, you have to harm them to death.

(End of this chapter)