Song Dynasty Cannon Fodder Counterattack Record

Chapter 221
When the envoys of the Liao Kingdom arrived in Bianliang, they immediately criticized the Song Dynasty for providing materials to Xixia despite the war between Liao and Xia.Well, from the perspective of strict Confucianism, Song Dynasty may indeed be a little bit wrong.As a result, it is normal for the voices of the people to criticize the current prime minister for not listening to Li Buqi's advice.

However, in the eyes of most scribes who consider themselves orthodox, it would be a shame for the common people to think that Li Buqi was completely right and that the prime minister was completely wrong. Naturally, some people stood up to argue that the Great Song Dynasty and Xixia also had a covenant and needed to abide by it. Hearing what Li Buqi said, stopping the New Year coins is also a sign of breaking promises.This is using morality as a shield for their weakness.But talk about feelings, right? That's something to talk about.

Since one side is not keeping promises to the brothers, and the other is not keeping promises to the nominal courtiers, then there is something to be said about it.This is a problem that Confucianism cannot solve. At this time, some people come out to question whether Confucian dogma can be used to deal with external affairs.

Li Buqi anonymously wrote an eloquent Wanyan article, pointing out that foreign affairs should be both beneficial and courteous, and it was serialized in the newspaper of Qingyuan Academy.This sparked a fierce pen battle in the newspapers.

The students of Qingyuan Academy who come from remote areas may have lower theoretical level, but they are more concerned about the sufferings of the people than the Central Plains scholars, and they also pay attention to practical interests.In addition, the affluent areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang have begun to rise "practical learning" that focuses on "substantial practicality", and the research of Qingyuan Academy is just right for the appetite of practical learning.Some well-to-do students from Jiangsu and Zhejiang paid their own tuition and became an important force in the academy.

These more practical scholars had the advantage of being close to the water, so most of the public opinions in the newspapers were in favor of emphasizing practical interests in diplomacy and criticizing the weakness of the ruler.

So Liang Shi, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, stormed into Pang Ji's office again this morning, and took a picture of a newspaper just published yesterday on Pang Ji's desk: "Look! You and I are called idiots, You are weak! These scholars are talking nonsense, should the court take care of it!"

Pang Ji saw that Liang Shi, who was top-notch in cultivating energy, turned purple with anger, and quickly glanced at the newspaper to make sure that he understood the reason for Liang Shi's annoyance by making sure that he didn't miss anything yesterday. , My Song Dynasty does not block the way of speaking, scholars talk about their own opinions, how to deal with this?"

Liang Shi was so angry that he blew his beard: "The old man's annoyance is not that he expresses his own opinions, but that they only publish their way of manipulating their opinions. In fact, they thought that there were more scholars dealing with Huairou in Xixia, and they wrote many articles, but Qingyuan Academy just didn't like it. Published. Occasionally published a few articles, but also as their target. You see, only one article by my husband and another innocuous article in this newspaper support the safe policy. The rest are all criticizing the old man. Those who support the suspension of old coins are the mainstream, and this old man is like a lone husband and a thief."

Pang Ji's failure of Qingli's reforms was more obvious than Liang Shi's who hadn't participated in political struggles much.He smiled faintly: "The newspaper is owned by Qingyuan Academy, what articles to use and what articles not to use are of course Qingyuan Academy's final say. The so-called difference of ways does not conspire with each other, but Zhongxian is rushing to send his own articles to it. It’s not clear that it’s being used as a valve.”

It's hard for him to say that during the Qingli reform, what happened when everyone poured dirty water on the reformers?It's just that in the past, the anti-reform party completely dominated the public opinion in the officialdom, but now Qingyuan Academy is leading the way in mobilizing public opinion.

Liang Shi was so angry that he blew his beard again: "Could it be that Qingyuan Academy is allowed to encourage the people? You don't know, a few days ago, the old man actually heard the servants at home talking about the old man."

Pang Ji was helpless.Now the commercial newspaper is sold all over the country, especially the readers of the supplement include peddlers from all walks of life, and the influence is too great.Now the only one that can slightly compete with the influence of the Commercial Daily is the Imperial Court's Mansion Newspaper, but the influence of the Imperial Court Mansion Newspaper is more limited to the officialdom.Another more serious problem is that so far, the distribution of Di Bao mainly relies on manual transcription and woodblock printing, and its circulation and speed are incomparable with Commercial Daily.

Thinking of this, Pang Ji couldn't help but smile wryly.Originally, Qingyuan Academy had been printing the Mansion Newspaper for a while, but Yu Shi, who was at odds with Li Buqi, said that the Mansion Newspaper printed with movable type was dark and tasted bad, which would be disrespectful to the court.Under their righteous insistence, Di Bao returned to the original publishing method.So, who can blame this?
It is not even possible to ask Di Bao to return to printing with movable type now, which involves a matter of face.The censor who raised the opinion was still squatting on the censor platform, and Wen Yanbo was the decision maker who made the decision. Whoever said to change it back now would not save their face.A gentleman should not offend people on such trivial matters.

Pang Ji signaled Liang Shi not to be impatient, and said calmly: "Zhongxian don't need to be impatient. I heard that the Guozijian thinks that the Qingyuan Academy's dissemination by the Commercial News is quite insincere. I have already started preparations for starting a newspaper. I don’t think Rishangbao will lose its glory in the near future.”

Liang Shi hurriedly asked: "Is this really true? Then the old man should urge the Imperial Academy to save the old man from even having a place to reason."

Pang Ji nodded affirmatively and said, "Of course it is serious." He, Wen Yanbo, and Song Xiang were the ones who secretly promoted this matter, so why not take it seriously.

Now Zhao Zhen must read newspapers every day, especially the supplements of the Commercial Daily, among which anecdotes, folk rumors, and new academic discoveries make him never tired of reading them.However, recently he has paid more attention to the discussion on the relationship between Song, Liao and Xia, and asked Li Buqi to report to him as soon as he gets information about Liao.

On the second day of December, he called Li Buqi again to ask if he had any information about the Liao Kingdom.Li Buqi just received the information from the spies sent to Datong Mansion, Yizhou and other places in the Liao Kingdom, and immediately reported: "Your Majesty, it has been found out that the Liao Kingdom's South Xia Route Army under Commander Xiao Hui is now stationed in Dongsheng Prefecture and Datong Mansion, but part of it has been merged into the Central Route Army under the command of the Liao Emperor. The Central Route Army led by the Liao Emperor is concentrated in Yizhou and Zhuozhou, and the Liao Emperor's palace is placed in Youzhou. The Liao people in the land of Yanyun have already spread the call to gather It is estimated that there will be as many as 40 elite Liao soldiers on the opposite side of Hebei by the end of the month."

The number of 40 frightened the emperor and swallowed his saliva involuntarily. "Hey! Don't give up. If you really fight, can you win?"

Now the emperor doesn't ask if he can stop fighting, but if he can win and make progress.This is obviously not what Wen Yanbo and others persuaded.Recently, the Commercial Daily put forward the views that "it is possible to prepare without fighting, and it is impossible to fight without preparation", "the victor will have peace, and the defeated will never have peace." It seems that the emperor was influenced by the newspaper.

Li Buqi said: "Actually, Privy Councilor Pang is talented. It's just that I feel that the Privy Council is not determined enough, blindly defending, and handing over the initiative to the Liao people. I'm afraid that if something happens, they will lose everything."

Zhao Zhen hurriedly asked: "Then what should I do? By the way, you are a man who knows how to fight, why haven't I seen your advice on the strategy of defending against the enemy?"

Li Buqi said: "The strategy of the minister will be very different from that of the Privy Council. I am afraid that no one will understand it. I think that if we completely follow the strategy of the Privy Council, it is still possible to win a miserable victory, but if we forcefully mix the strategy of the minister If you go in, something will definitely go wrong and cause a disastrous defeat. So it's better to listen to the Privy Council."

"But what if it loses according to the Privy Council's method?" The emperor's face was very ugly.

Of course, Li Buqi couldn't make the emperor feel that he was irresponsible to the emperor. He said with emotion: "Please personally lead the Zhenwu Army and the police cavalry to go guerrilla in Hebei. If there is a critical situation, I will risk my life. will remedy."

The emperor's eyes lit up!He has been the emperor for so many years and has not seen the civil servant asking for orders to go to battle in person!This is Li Buqi's first job!How could the emperor dare not move at this time?He even said: "Okay, okay. So I can rest assured."

After thinking about it, he asked again: "I remember that there are two thousand police cavalry, how many soldiers are there in the Zhenwu Army?"

Li Buqi said: "The Zhenwu Army has [-] soldiers ready to fight. You can recruit more brave and effective soldiers."

The emperor said: "5000 people are too few. I will give you another 1 people."

Li Buqi waved his hand quickly: "I have never commanded 5000 people at once, and I am already worried. No matter how many people there are, I may not be able to command. Di Hanchen is one of the rare cavalry soldiers in my dynasty." Therefore, I ask His Majesty to grant him the right to be independent, and let him command an elite cavalry force of no less than [-] troops to station in the area of ​​Zhending Mansion. If something unexpected happens in Hebei, you Chen and Di Hanchen will move Remedy with troops, I think it will be safe."

The emperor thought for a while, and seemed to have made up his mind to tell the eunuch, "Xuan Di Hanchen!"

(End of this chapter)