Qian Song

Chapter 71 Tong Guan, Da Song is Dependent on You (Read More!)

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The sixth day of the first month of the third year of Xuanhe.

The weather in Bianliang City, Tokyo this year is extremely cold.

Zhao Ji looked out from the window of the Chuigong Hall, and there were scattered small snowflakes in the sky.

Not long ago, Hou Meng, the magistrate of Bozhou, gave Zhao Ji a memorial.

Hou Meng believed through analysis that Song Jiang, a native of Jeju, gathered people to attack Heshuo and Jingdong East Road, moved to Qingzhou, Qizhou and Puzhou, and captured more than ten counties and counties. Anbang's talents are worse than recruiting Song Jiang and his gang to be used by the court.

Zhao Ji felt that what Hou Meng said was very reasonable, so he appointed Hou Meng as the Zhidongping Mansion and was responsible for recruiting Song Jiang and his gang.

Originally, Zhao Ji had been looking forward to Hou Meng being able to recruit Song Jiang and his gang to get rid of this disaster for the court.

But suddenly it was reported that Hou Meng fell ill on the way to Dongping Mansion to take up his post, and died not long after.

There is no way, Zhao Ji can only appoint Zeng Xiaoyun, the prefect of Shezhou, to lead the army to conquer Song Jiang and his gang.

——In the view of Zhao Ji, who believed in ghosts and gods, the sudden sudden death of Hou Meng meant that the ancestors of the Zhao family did not allow him to recruit Song Jiang and the gang of rebels.

Since they cannot be recruited, they can only be exterminated.

After dinner yesterday, there was another bad news that Deng Xunwu of the Privy Council had passed away.

Deng Xunwu was very worried about Zhao Ji's plan for the Northern Expedition to recover the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun. He approached Cai Jing and said: "The century-old alliance between Song and Liao cannot be broken. As the prime minister, you should think twice before acting."

It may be that Deng Xunwu's words played a role. Later, Cai Jing also began to firmly oppose the alliance with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty, and even lost his position as prime minister for this.

Deng Xunwu also found Tong Guan and said to Tong Guan: "Our army has been defeated by the Liao army for a long time. If you send troops rashly, you will surely lead to disasters and endless harm."

Tong Guan refused to listen, and instead advised Deng Xunwu: "The official's ambition is to regain Yanjing, and you are in charge of it. How can you not share the official's worries and hinder the official's ambition?"

Deng Xunwu said in a cold voice: "You conquered Hehuang Tubo and Xixia Dangxiang, and your power shocked the northwest. It should be famous in history, but you have to do this dangerous thing, for fear of causing disaster and harming yourself."

After speaking, Deng Xunwu flicked his sleeves and left.

Tong Guan quickly told Zhao Ji that Deng Xunwu disapproved of Lianjin's extermination of Liao and the recovery of the Sixteen States of Yanyun.

Zhao Ji, who was determined to recover the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, immediately excluded Deng Xunwu from the core circle of power.

Unexpectedly, Deng Xunwu died in this troubled time.

This made Zhao Ji feel even more uneasy!
The nineteenth of the first month.

Holding Tan Zhen's report, Liang Shicheng cautiously said to Zhao Ji: "Officials, Li Cun broke the four prefectures of Su, Hu, Run, and Jiangning, and only Xiuzhou City in northern Zhejiang is holding on."

When Zhao Ji heard this, he stood up "Teng" and said in shock, "What did you say?!"

After speaking, Zhao Ji snatched Tan Zhen's memorial from Liang Shicheng's hand and read it twice at a glance.

Although the responsibility for Tan Zhen's memorial was all passed on to the local armies in Zhejiang, Lianghuai and other places, especially the generals of the Guangde Army and Gaoyou Army such as Zhang Mao and Tian Sheng, Zhao Ji still took Tan Zhen's memorial. The reporter threw it out and said angrily, "Tan Zhen, I don't believe you anymore!"

It's no wonder that Zhao Ji, who has always been good-tempered, would be so furious. In addition to the four prefectures that Li Cunxin conquered, nearly ten prefectures and more than a hundred counties in the two Zhejiang regions fell. This has never happened since the founding of Zhao Song!

At this time, Wang Fu came in from the door.

However, Wang Fu cleverly did not immediately excuse Tan Zhen, but waited for Zhao Ji's anger to subside a little before he said softly: "Officials, I'm afraid this failure was caused by Tan's system."

When Zhao Ji heard this, he couldn't help but look at Wang Fu coldly: "Why do you say that?"

Wang Fu bit the bullet and said carefully: "Since Tan Zhizhi went south, it has only been more than [-] days. Li Cun's thieves have fought all the way from Hangzhou to the front line of the river. However, there is one soldier resisting, and the situation is definitely not in danger. Corrupted so far."

Zhao Ji was right when he thought about it. Li Cun and his group of ant thieves were attacking the city too fast. Unless Li Cun and his group would open the city and surrender wherever they went, or they would abandon the city and flee, otherwise Li Cun would not be able to go so fast. Just hit the line along the Yangtze River.

Zhao Ji slowly calmed down: "There is indeed something strange."

Hearing this, Wang Fu dared to continue to excuse Tan Zhen: "Tan Zhizhi said in the newspaper that he saw that the ant thief was powerful, and he was going to cross the river in a few days and go straight to the capital to prevent the officials from being an ant thief. What's more, the situation in the southeast is corrupt, if it is not extinguished by thunder, it will hurt the foundation of the country, so he has to lead the people to fight the bandits in a hurry, but the southern soldiers have not heard of war for 200 years, and it is already unbearable Great use, Zhang Maung and Tian Sheng's collusion with the enemy and betrayal of the country made him suffer this defeat, it is not because of his incompetence."

Zhao Ji thought to himself: "Tan Zhen led his troops to resist anyway, is it better than those who open the city and surrender or abandon the city without firing an arrow?"

At this time, Liang Shicheng said cautiously: "Tan Zhizhi should have the heart to share the worries of the officials."

Hearing what Liang Shicheng said, Zhao Ji glanced at the Xuan Gui presented by Tan Zhen which was placed in the most eye-catching place in the hall.

This Xuangui is about one foot and two inches long.There are twelve mountains engraved on both sides, like the mountain statues in ancient times, with the upper part sharp and the lower part.There is an inscription on the top, and there is no embellishment on the bottom. It is black on the outside and red on the inside. There is a small hole in the middle, and your fingers can penetrate into it.

Zhao Ji once found someone to appraise it. This is Zhou Wangzhi Zhengui, and it is a treasure that can be used in all directions.

Now Zhao Ji still has a fresh memory of the scene when Tan Zhen presented this treasure in the Daqing Palace: "With this treasure, who can shake my Zhao family?!"

For the sake of this treasure, Zhao Ji thought for a while and said, "Forget it, let Tan Zhen stay in Liangzhe to take the blame and make meritorious service."

Seeing that Zhao Ji forgave Tan Zhen, Liang Shicheng and Wang Fu glanced at each other indiscriminately, and then looked away in a tacit understanding.

Zhao Ji then looked at Wang Fu: "The situation in the southeast has become so corrupt, Ai Qing thinks, what should be the explanation?"

Wang Fu said: "Just as I was about to report to the officials, the southern soldiers could not be reused. Taifu Feitong personally led the elite Western Army, the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army and Ding and Li gunmen to rush to suppress them, so as to prevent the spread of the ant thief."

The situation in the southeast is already so tense, how could Zhao Ji have the time to think about uniting Jin to destroy Liao and recover Yanyun sixteen prefectures?

You know, the southeast is the economic lifeline of the Zhao Song Dynasty. If it is really occupied by Li Cun and Fang La, then the country of the Song Dynasty will be unstable. What is the talk of regaining the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties and consolidating the frontier?
Therefore, Zhao Ji hurriedly convened important officials to discuss and decided to temporarily suspend the Northern Expedition and prepare for the Southern Expedition.

After a short discussion, Zhao Ji appointed Tong Guan as the envoy of Jiang, Huai, Jing, and Zhejiang, Tan Zhen was still appointed as the envoy of the two Zhejiang provinces, and Liu Yanqing was the governor of the capital. chaos.

At the same time, at the request of Tong Guan, Zhao Ji ordered Gao Qiu to mobilize 20 Gyeonggi forbidden troops and go south with the Western Army.

In the early morning of the next day, Zhao Ji came to the gate of the city in a light car and saw Tong Guan off in person.

Before parting, Zhao Ji held Tong Guan's hand tightly: "Tong Aiqing, I will take care of everything in the southeast. If there is an urgent matter, you can give orders in my name."

Zhao Ji is tantamount to handing over his imperial power to Tong Guan.

It is not difficult to see from this that Zhao Ji is really scared this time.

Tong Guan didn't say a single unnecessary word, but bowed to Zhao Ji and said "No!", then got on his horse and headed straight to the south...

Looking at Tong Guan's tall and tall back, Zhao Ji was worried.

Zhao Ji couldn't figure it out. Why did the Song Dynasty, which had been prosperous and prosperous before, suddenly become turbulent?What exactly went wrong?
At this moment, Ma Zheng and his party, who had been sent by Zhao Ji to the Kingdom of Jin to discuss the alliance with the Jin to destroy the Liao Dynasty, returned.

Before returning, Wanyan Sagai, the state official of the Jin Kingdom, said to Ma Zheng: "The matter of attacking Khitan was stated in the letter of return last time. The three prefectures of Ying, Ping, and Luan do not belong to the There is no need to discuss the old land of Yanyun. As for Xijing, the royal court can plan to collect it. After you leave, my court will immediately send an envoy back to your court with the letter of state."

Wanyan Sagai also specially patted Ma Zheng's son Ma Kuo on the shoulder, and warmly praised: "You have a good shot, and your reputation is far away. I will give you a name. From now on, you can be called Yeli Mali."

——Ma Zheng and his entourage did not go so smoothly at the beginning of the mission to the Kingdom of Jin. Some Jin people felt that the Song people were weak and unworthy of alliance with them. It was Ma Kuo who subdued the Jin people with his archery skills. There were also warriors among the people of Song Dynasty, and the attitude began to change.

And "Yilimali" is a Jurchen language, meaning a person who is good at shooting.

It can be said that from the results point of view, Ma Zheng's mission this time was extremely successful.

However, after Ma Zheng and the others returned to Bianliang City in Tokyo this time, Zhao Ji was no longer in the mood to meet them, nor was he interested in listening to their report on the trip to the Kingdom of Jin. For this matter, Zhao Ji is not in the mood now.

Now, what Zhao Ji is most worried about is the situation in the southeast. What he is most worried about is whether Li Cun and Fang La will fight the Yangtze River, hit Bianliang City in Tokyo, and lift his dragon chair?
Zhao Ji hoped that Tong Guan, whom he had placed high hopes on, would be able to wipe out the rebellion in the southeast for him.

As for recovering the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, it should be regarded as a dream that Zhao Ji has had for many years...

……

(End of this chapter)