"Official family."
After Lu Yijian came out, he advised: "Killing generals for no reason will destabilize the morale of the army. Don't make such an unwise decision at this time."
Zhao Zhen was walking under the corridor. It had been raining in the past few days. The rain was much lighter today, but it still made him very depressed.
Especially when he repeatedly heard that the Song Dynasty was a castrated dynasty, it was even more upsetting.
But what Lu Yijian said is right. There must be a reason to kill a general. Although the status of military generals in the Song Dynasty was low, they could not be killed just by killing them. At least they had to find excuses after they were defeated.
But the problem is that if people like Huang Dehe are allowed to stay in the army, isn't it waiting for the Song army to be defeated?
So after Zhao Zhen lost his temper, he could only say: "Then remove him. How can such a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death stay in our Song Army?"
Lu Yijian added: "Zhao Jun said that Fan Yong was an honest official, and he had made great achievements in appeasing the people in the local area for many years. If he demoted the official rashly, it would be difficult to convince the public, and the officials should make careful arrangements."
Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment, then said: "Then move back to Bianjing and know Henan Prefecture."
Deputy Prime Minister Sheng Du stepped forward and asked: "For officials, Huang Dehe's death is not a pity, but Fan Yong is the transfer envoy to Shaanxi and is in charge of Shaanxi's military affairs. If Zhao Yuanhao wants to start a war, and he is removed, who should be replaced?"
This question stumped Zhao Zhen. Fan Yong was a Jinshi, and his previous performance was not that bad. It was because of this that he was able to achieve the position of the highest military and political officer of Shaanxi Road.
But seeing that Li Yuanhao was about to attack the Song Dynasty, and Fan Yong, an incompetent person, was removed, naturally he had to be replaced by someone who could fight, but who could fight?
Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment.
Vice Minister Cai Qi came up and said: "Guan, it seems that we still have to ask Zhao Jun about this matter."
"Yes, ask him."
Zhao Zhen suddenly realized it and quickly returned to the house.
At this time, Zhao Jun was still talking to Yan Shu, and now he was talking about the Song Dynasty's second defeat at the Battle of Haoshuichuan.
"The reason for the failure of the Battle of Haoshuichuan was still a problem of command failure."
I heard Zhao Jun explaining: "After the Battle of Sanchuankou, Song Renzong appointed Xia Song as the chief officer of the Northwest Army, and made Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan his deputies. Although Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan are famous today, I think their military The talent is not that strong.”
"Han Qi advocated a decisive battle with Xixia, while Fan Zhongyan took the initiative to defend. Xia Song was hesitant and let Song Renzong decide. Song Renzong himself was an indecisive fool. Isn't it nonsense to ask him to make a decision? The result is that he will not be able to fight. To fight, you have to be defensive or not. First, Han Qi's plan was adopted, but after Fan Zhongyan's dissuasion, he changed it to a compromise, allowing Han Qi to attack and Fan Zhongyan to defend."
"Compromise is the stupidest way. It's better to attack with the whole army. With one punch from the barbarian, either you die or I die. Or we can defend like Fan Zhongyan. At least Lao Fan is smart and much stronger than that idiot Han Qi. To The local government repairs and strengthens city defenses, appeases and governs the people, eliminates the old and weak, trains soldiers, and recruits talents.”
"On the other hand, Han Qi did not look at the actual situation and did not know that the Song army was weak and the enemy was strong. As a result, Han Qi took the initiative to send troops and sent Ren Fu to attack, which led to Ren Fu's entire army being wiped out in Haoshuichuan. Li Yuanhao became more and more confident as he fought. Song Ting is even more rampant."
"If it weren't for Di Qing, who fought bravely to kill the enemy in several small-scale battles, and relied on Di Qing's bloody battle to save a little bit of the defeat, I'm afraid the Song Dynasty would have lost all face."
"But overall, the Song Dynasty still had national strength. Because of Lao Fan's insistence on the policy, Xixia's national strength could not support them to continue fighting. Therefore, in the battle of Dingchuan Village, Song general Ge Huaimin did not listen to orders and advanced blindly. He was After the Xia army was completely wiped out and Lao Fan personally led the army to rescue them, Xixia could only withdraw from the border fortress and failed to achieve its strategic goal of occupying the Guanzhong Plain."
"Basically, this is also the turning point for the three kingdoms of Song, Liao and Xia. Anyway, the Song Dynasty did not have the ability to take back the northwest. Xixia was originally a small country and the people were poor. Even if it won three wars, the national power could not afford it. No one could do anything about it. Then naturally we can only sign a covenant to recognize each other."
"And why do I think that Fan Zhongyan is not very strong in military ability, but is an excellent politician? That is because he will understand the situation and know that the Song army is not good and will definitely not be able to defeat it if he takes the initiative, so he sticks to his place and changes the bad situation of the northwest army. On the other hand, that guy Han Qi is no different from Zhao Kuo. If we really listen to his words and attack with the whole army, all the Northwest Army will be destroyed."
Zhao Jun was frothing at the mouth.
Zhao Zhen's face at the door was covered with black lines, and his clenched fists had bulging veins.
I have been listening to the history for two days now. Although I know that Zhao Jun has never had a good impression of the Song Dynasty and has no respect for the emperor of the Song Dynasty, when I heard him say that he was an indecisive fool, I couldn't help but get angry. Blow up soon.
You are the second fool, and your whole family is the second fool.
Zhao Zhen cursed in his heart. If he hadn't been really good-tempered, he would have wanted to pick up the bench in the room and beat someone up.
Yan Shu glanced at Zhao Zhen at the door, and then asked: "According to your opinion, if Fan Yong and Xia Song were replaced by Fan Zhongyan as the chief officer, wouldn't there be the defeat of Sanchuankou and Haoshuichuan?"
"Maybe."
Zhao Jun had finished eating everything. He was leaning on the bedside, thinking about the ancient history he was studying in class, and said: "Lao Fan's strategy is actually a step-by-step turtle tactic. He will definitely not win if he takes the initiative like Han Qi, but let Fan Zhongyan If we sit in the northwest, at least we won't lose."
"Can you win the battle?"
Yan Shu asked again.
"Win the battle? Are you saying that if you replace Fan Yong and Xia Song with Fan Zhongyan, you can win the battle?"
There was a bit of disbelief in Zhao Jun's tone.
"yes."
Yan Shu was confused. Didn't you say that Fan Zhongyan's tactics were good?
"Uncle Larri, are you kidding me?"
Zhao Jun suddenly became happy: "Fan Zhongyan is good, but he is not a god. With the system of the Song Dynasty, it is good to maintain half of the country, but still want to win the war? How is it possible?"
Yan Shu was unhappy and said, "Why not? Didn't you say that Fan Zhongyan can change the situation in the northwest?"
"That's true, but the Song Dynasty was rotten from top to bottom, especially the emperor."
Zhao Jun spread his hands and said: "As the saying goes, if a soldier is a raging soldier, a general will be raging in a nest. The emperor is a waste. He has made a country focus on civility and suppression of military affairs. How can it be possible to make the military virtues of the army prosper? To paraphrase General Fan's words, How many prime ministers have the main war faction changed in one term? Is it bad to change the situation? Changing the soup does not change the medicine."
"Wei Qing and Huo Qubing also have reasons to say, what kind of army do I lead? They are elite men of the Han Dynasty, and they are supported by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who advocates martial arts. Who are you people? What does the emperor do? Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Heng, Zhao Shu, Zhao Xu, Zhao Xu, Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan, Zhao Gou, what the hell are they? Even Wei Qinghuo can't bring them back to life."
"Look at Li Shimin again. He is the Emperor Wu who was born in the war. In the Northern Song Dynasty, only Zhao Kuangyin has some ability in martial arts, and only Zhao Zhen is barely qualified in martial arts. Look at the others. What is the level of the Song Dynasty? There are only a few people like you, Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan is trying to be the emperor, can he be the emperor? Those who can’t be the emperor don’t have the ability, you know.”
……．
Zhao Zhen, Lu Yijian and others remained silent.
It was a national policy of the Song Dynasty to emphasize culture and suppress military force. This was no longer a matter that could be solved at once. Even if the emperor wanted to change it, I am afraid that all the civil servants in the dynasty would have to oppose it.
After a moment of silence, Yan Shu said: "But aren't we talking about the period of Song Renzong? Didn't you say that Renzong was okay?"
"Oh, thank God. Renzong is okay, but the army is rotten, and Lao Fan has no way to save himself."
Zhao Jun spread his hands and said: "A country like this has no good foundation for martial ethics. It emasculated itself in the early days of the founding of the country. The number of troops seems to be quite large, but their combat effectiveness is not high, and their fighting will is not strong. No matter how many people there are, It’s useless to have more.”
"Perhaps Fan Zhongyan can do a good job in military and civilian work when he goes to the northwest, but it will not take a day or two to train the army well and turn it into a strong army."
"Even if he can resist Li Yuanhao's attack and prevent three major defeats, who can guarantee that he will win the subsequent Song-Xia War and Song-Liao War, and that the Jingkang shame will not happen?"
"So I feel that under the general environment of the Song Dynasty that emphasized culture and suppressed military force, it was difficult to achieve complete victory in foreign wars."
"I can only advise the emperor of the Song Dynasty that if he wants to build the Song Dynasty into the world's largest country like the Han and Tang Dynasties, he should be more pragmatic. He must first understand his own tactics and the concept of war."
"Both Di Qing and Yue Fei have done a good job, why do they have to suppress him? Especially Zhao Gou. He has twelve gold medals and urges a defeated general to go back. It's shameless."
"How can such a country still want to win the war?"
"Fan Zhongyan is also good, but he is suitable for strategic deployment. He can be allowed to do a good job in the military and civilian work in the northwest first, train the army, and then talk about winning the war."
"As for the tactical arrangement, we still have to rely on the Song army itself. Didn't Di Qing make a name for himself in these three battles? If Song Renzong was smarter, wouldn't he stop restricting the generals so tightly and let the generals fight according to the actual situation? ? Just like Huo Qubing, who would only be happy if he trapped the generals to death? "
Yan Shu said helplessly: "The military generals of the Song Dynasty may not be able to serve as chief officers."
"So the Song Dynasty was a eunuch dynasty."
Zhao Jun mocked again: "If you ask me, Song Renzong's two fools, stupid donkeys, and Di Qing, a commander at the ceiling level, can take back Xixia and Yanyun sixteen states even if they lie down, but it's a pity that he doesn't dare to use it. The Song Dynasty This is not good. The emphasis on civility and restraint on military affairs goes too far, resulting in insufficient military ethics. Song fans still claim that they have a high winning rate in foreign wars, but they have not yet unified the world despite having a high winning rate. The country was also destroyed by the northern nomads twice. Really It’s funny.”
Are you calling me a fool again? And added a stupid ass?
Zhao Zhen's eyelids were twitching wildly, and he looked at the bench on the ground next to him. He gritted his teeth and resisted from throwing the bench over.
Before, he was said to be a rare and good emperor in the Song Dynasty, but it changed after just one day. Now Zhao Jun is talking about a fool and a fool. Who can bear this?
Fortunately, Zhao Jun found a reliable northwest chief. If Fan Zhongyan was allowed to go, at least the situation in the northwest would not be so corrupt.
Zhao Zhen came out of the room. His originally angry mood was also filled with political affairs. He hesitated for a while and said to Lu Yijian: "Prime Minister Lu, is our strategy of emphasizing culture and suppressing military force really wrong?"
Lu Yijian did not answer directly, but raised his hands and said: "Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, Zhou, Southern Wu, Wuyue, Qian Shu, Hou Shu, Fujian, Southern Han, Nanping, Chu, Southern Tang, Northern Han... I hope the officials understand the consequences of a military general taking full power over the army."
"I understand."
Zhao Zhen no longer hesitated.
Compared with having abundant martial virtue, how could the world of his Zhao family be more important?
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there were many examples of military generals seizing military power and usurping the throne one after another.
Even Zhao Kuangyin himself started his career like this. When the Chenqiao mutiny broke out, he bullied the orphans and widows and took over the Hou Zhou Dynasty. Compared to having your country usurped by others, what if you lose?
Anyway, Xixia and Liao couldn't get in, so the worst they could do was spend money to buy peace.
Zhao Jun's statement that the nation should have a martial spirit is certainly correct in later generations, but in the Song Dynasty?
Haha, it’s just a rant.
"Then let Fan Zhongyan go to the northwest?"
Zhao Zhen said again.
Lu Yijian's face was expressionless, but he was secretly happy in his heart. He cupped his hands and said, "The officials are wise."
Zhao Zhen made this decision, but did not act immediately. Instead, he returned to the house and listened to Zhao Jun talk about the causes and consequences of the battle at Dingchuan Village.
In general, due to the Song Army's backward intelligence, contempt for the enemy, coupled with high-level vacillation, command dysfunction and other problems, the lower-level execution was chaotic. In the end, it was ambushed three times by Li Yuanhao and suffered three disastrous defeats.
These three major defeats caused a serious decline in the Song army's combat effectiveness in the northwest, which worsened the already deficit in finances and made the Song Dynasty unable to take the initiative to attack Xixia.
Xixia's national strength was too weak. Although its combat effectiveness was relatively strong and it won three out of three battles, it was still defeated in several small-scale battles, such as Di Qing's victory in the battle of Jintang City.
So the two sides have been entangled with each other for several years, and when no one can do anything about the other, naturally they can only recognize each other by pinching their noses.
With Zhao Jun helping to summarize the reasons, Zhao Zhen and his team of prime ministers had a plan.
They wanted to nip Li Yuanhao in the bud.
In response to the problem of command failure, Fan Zhongyan was made the chief officer alone and fully responsible for the northwest war. There were also situations such as lax armament and poor people's livelihood, which also led Fan Zhongyan to train the army and improve people's livelihood.
As for the fact that the internal intelligence of the Song Dynasty was about to turn into a sieve, they also planned to make comprehensive arrangements before Fan Zhongyan was officially given the appointment to manage the Shaanxi Road.
For example, you can deliberately provide some false information to Li Yuanhao, and at the same time tell Fan Zhongyan that Li Yuanhao will deliberately send some Xixia tribes to surrender as internal agents, so that he can deal with it carefully and never fall into the trap, etc.
According to Zhao Jun, the war with Xixia will not start for another two years. As long as Fan Zhongyan manages the strategy properly in these two years, he may be able to save the situation and even defeat Li Yuanhao, making Li Yuanhao surrender again. , dare not launch another rebellion.
So in the next few days, Zhao Zhen went to Zhao Jun to listen to the history, while studying with his team how to counter Li Yuanhao's self-proclaimed emperor.
Zhao Zhen couldn't even imagine that just when he was about to appoint Fan Zhongyan to go to the northwest, Lao Fan gave him a big job.
