King of Song

Chapter 642 Loyalty Can't Be Both

Zhao Xu was in a good mood when he received the good news from Wang Zhongzheng.

Sure enough, he lived up to his own expectations and won several big cities in a row, which is a huge credit.No matter how successful he was in this battle against Xixia, Wang Zhongzheng's contributions would be indelible, and Zhao Zhao was destined not to be able to take full advantage of it.

This is enough, coupled with proper guidance of public opinion, it is emphasized that Wang Zhongzheng's contribution will overshadow other generals.Then he himself can suppress King Qin's limelight.

In this way, Wang Zhongzheng could justifiably stay in the northwest and be nailed into Zhao Zhao's territory, making him uneasy, and even falling apart.Everything is developing as expected,.

Zhao Xu is very satisfied with this!

For a long time, it was rare to have such a happy thing.

Immediately, Zhao Xu saw another memorial from Chang'an.The King of Qin ordered the Jingyuan Road Transshipment Envoy and Chang'an to promote Changping Siwen Jiyuan to deliver rations for the Central Route Army at all costs.

Seeing this, Zhao Xu's heart began to move.

He knew that the ultimate core goal of this battle against Xixia was Lingzhou.Yanzhou and Weizhou are the gateways to Lingzhou. Whichever city is destroyed first, whichever army can reach the city of Lingzhou as soon as possible and achieve the greatest military exploits.

Wang Zhongzheng has already rushed to Yanzhou, and Liu Changzuo is also fighting fiercely under the city of Weizhou. If he wants to get ahead of Wang Zhongzheng, it will be troublesome.

Zhao Xu knew that Liu Changzuo was single-handedly promoted by Zhao Zhao.In the past when he was framed by Li Fugui, it was Liu Changzuo and Jing Sili who traveled all the way to Bianjing to testify and redress his grievances.There is no doubt that they are Zhao Zhao's staunch supporters.

How could the Battle of Lingzhou allow him to seize the opportunity?
The three armies have not moved, and the food and grass go first. As long as the food and grass are slightly slow, it will definitely delay Liu Changzuo's progress.Since Wen Jiyuan is in charge of this matter, then he will be within reach.

hum!

Zhao Xu laughed coldly, and suddenly something seemed to be stuck in his throat, so that he coughed repeatedly, and his face flushed instantly.

It seemed that he had taken too much medicine recently. Although Zhao Xu thought so, he had no intention of regretting it.The efforts during this time have been very fruitful.

There are already three princes in the palace, and now another concubine, Chen Shi, is pregnant. The imperial physician claimed that it is very likely that there is still a prince.In this way, he has four sons.Now it's all right, the royal family has a successor.

At the same time, Zhao Xu also had a very strange idea, that is to surpass Zhao Zhao in this respect.You only have two sons, I'm about to have four!
It's just that the sons are still too young, Zhao Xu has already made up his mind, and when the sixth son Zhao Xu (actually the eldest) grows older, he will become the prince.

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Wen Jiyuan has been an official in Chang'an for a long time. Thanks to his profound family knowledge, he followed his father who was the chief minister since he was a child, and his ability is still very good.

At least all aspects of government affairs under his management are very proper, and the granary, labor and river transportation in charge are all correct, which is very rare among young officials.

But there is one thing that has been lingering in Wen Jiyuan's heart, which makes him very embarrassed.Onlookers in Chang'an naturally have to obey His Royal Highness King Qin.But the official family even gave himself a secret mission through his father Wen Yanbo, to pay attention to King Qin's every move and secretly report to the official family.

To be a spy?Wen Jiyuan never thought that one day, he would have such a task.

To be honest, he is quite disgusted with this kind of behavior of the officials.A majestic emperor should do things openly and aboveboard, why did he use such low-handed means?What's more, Qin Wang is still a dignified uncle, so the officials' methods are really disgraceful.

Although disdainful, Wen Jiyuan dared not refuse.Otherwise, the situation of the Wen family will be very bad, especially the father who is in power and has many disciples and old officials will be very embarrassed and difficult to deal with himself.

In this regard, his father Wen Yanbo's attitude was that he could not completely refuse, but he could not betray the King of Qin too much, otherwise he would end up with two sides.I can only deal with it first, and it will take a day to survive. One day, no matter whether it is active or passive, there will always be a proper solution.

Ever since, Wen Jiyuan accepted this somewhat dirty secret errand with a bad feeling in his heart.Although secret performances are often sent to the officials, the contents are all trivial matters, and can be inquired from other channels.Although the official Zhao Xu was very dissatisfied, Wen Jiyuan argued that his official position was not high, and he had no access to the core secrets of King Qin, so he was fooled.

In this way, although Wen Jiyuan can't feel at ease, at least he doesn't feel very guilty, and his life is still passable.But after escaping the first day of the junior high school, he couldn't escape the fifteenth day after all. Today he received a secret order from the government to delay the delivery of grain and grass to Liu Changzuo's department in Weizhou.

What does this mean?

Wen Jiyuan didn't know what the official's plan was, and he was already in shock.

The importance of grain and grass to the army is self-evident. What will happen if the delivery of grain and grass is delayed?Liu Changzuo's advance speed delay is small, which is likely to lead to failure, and even affect the overall victory or defeat.

How could the officials have such a will?He wouldn't do this without trying, why would he do such a strange move?
Wen Jiyuan had also heard of the open and covert struggle between the emperor and Qin Wang's uncle and nephew.In Chang'an, he can also know the battle reports of various armies at the first time.

It is said that Wang Zhongzheng's troops of the East Route Army have conquered Xiazhou and are now attacking Yanzhou. If they can send troops to Lingzhou before General Liu Changzuo conquers Weizhou...

The combat achievements and meanings in this are very different!Wen Jiyuan is the prime minister's son, these things can still be figured out.

Could it be that the officials deliberately delayed Liu Changzuo to buy time for Wang Zhongzheng?It's ridiculous.Can wars be child's play?

Wouldn't it be better for the two to join forces under the city of Lingzhou?In order to fight against the King of Qin, the officials even ignored the life and death of the frontline soldiers and the safety of the Song Dynasty!

What if Wang Zhongzheng was defeated?With his own strength, will he be able to conquer Lingzhou?If there is a little carelessness, this large-scale crusade against Xixia will end in failure.The tens of thousands of troops in the middle road were unable to sustain food and grass, and it was impossible to rescue them in time, or even retreat in time.

Once Xixia counterattacks aggressively, what will be the consequences?Can the lives of hundreds of thousands of troops be a joke?If the situation is bad, it is possible that the entire northwestern defense line of the Song Dynasty will collapse.

Couldn't the officials have thought of this?It is unimaginable that he would do such a despicable thing for his own self-interest.Wen Jiyuan is a Jinshi of the new science. He has read the ancient classics of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith since he was a child, and he insists on being loyal to the emperor and serving the country.

But now, he found that there was a contradiction between serving the country and being loyal to the king. The king was actually endangering national security?Can this king still be loyal?
All of a sudden, all the beliefs that had been held for many years collapsed. Wen Jiyuan couldn't understand what the emperor Zhao Xu did, and hated it deeply.After being frustrated and struggling for a long time, Wen Jiyuan made a decision in his heart, ignore the official's secret order, and put the overall situation first.

Now it seems that the official family is too disappointing, but His Royal Highness King Qin is the hope of Song Dynasty.Wen Jiyuan thought silently of the scene at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda that day, King Qin was generous and modest, and understood the truth.Even though they were at odds with Wang Anshi and other New Party officials, they still recognized the beneficial measures in the reform and implemented them.

Don't judge by your own likes and dislikes, and pursue a word of reason in everything, this is the demeanor that a Mingjun should have.There is also the Monument to the Song Heroes built by His Royal Highness King Qin. Once upon a time, Wen Jiyuan felt that those warriors and soldiers were being praised too much.But now it seems that King Qin is not wrong.

The defenders of the Tuwei Kingdom are all warriors and soldiers throwing their heads and blood, so why look down on them?They fought hard on the front line, and the emperor disregarded their life and death for some unspeakable reasons... It was too unfair to the soldiers, King Qin was right, the soldiers should be remembered in history and admired forever!

Between loyalty to the emperor and serving the country, Wen Jiyuan chose the latter. He still spared no effort to prepare food and grass, and sent people to Weizhou on the front line in time.He also knew that his actions would inevitably make the officials furious, and the Wen family would inevitably bear the wrath of the thunder.It doesn't matter if I am in Chang'an, but my father in Daming Mansion is afraid that he will be implicated...

Wen Jiyuan didn't dare to neglect, and immediately wrote to the father of Daming Mansion to inform him of the situation.And express the doubts that I can't understand, hoping that my father can understand and give me some guidance.

Loyalty to the emperor and serving the country cannot be both, and neither can loyalty and filial piety!
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"What can I tell you as a father?" When Wen Yanbo read his son's letter, he let out a long sigh, and the corner of his mouth was full of a helpless wry smile.

Was the son wrong?That's right!

From the books of sages and sages I have read since I was a child, the truths spoken by the sages are naturally correct, and it is even more correct to serve the country.

What can I say?Could it be that the son doesn't know how to be flexible?Just how to work around it?Wen Yanbo himself couldn't think of a proper solution, and the first and second ends did not end well.

You can't blame your son for not cooperating, he is not wrong.Only in this way, the officials must be furious.My son is fine for the time being in Chang'an, but what about the rest of the Wen family?
Wen Yanbo knew very well in his heart that he must give an explanation to the officials.A literary family who cannot be absolutely loyal must never be in power, otherwise there will be a disaster of death!
Forget it, after so many years of playing around, I have long been tired of it.It is better to avoid such a turbulent situation now.

"Jifu, dictate for the father, you come to polish the pen, and write a letter of resignation for the father!" Wen Yanbo sighed, with an indescribable feeling in his heart.

"What? Please resign?" Wen Jifu was very surprised.

"Your third brother stays in Chang'an, and as a father, he can't stay in Daming Mansion!" Seeing the slightly disappointed expression of the sixth son, Wen Yanbo said: "Only in this way can we keep our Wen family safe and have hope!"

Regarding the future of the Wen family, maybe the son is right. I hope that in Chang'an, having three sons is enough.While the Wen family is safe and sound, there is still hope.

Wen Yanbo believes that this hope is very possible.

(End of this chapter)