The emperor of Song Dynasty is addicted to the Internet, and the executive deputy emperor is traveling.
The Constitutional Yuan is working overtime, and the officials in charge of military affairs in the northwest are reforming the military.
However, the situation of the people did not improve much, the state treasury suffered losses, and the problems of redundant troops, redundant officials, and redundant expenses were still serious.
This is the current situation of the Song Dynasty.
But there is nothing that can be done about it.
Zhao Jun really took charge in September last year.
He has not fully understood the basic situation of the Song Dynasty. In the past, he had only read it from history books, which was inevitably biased.
Therefore, we must now be down-to-earth, go deep into the grassroots level, and thoroughly understand the basic situation of the Song Dynasty.
But judging from the current understanding of a series of situations, it is indeed biased.
Um.
The problems in the Song Dynasty were more serious than recorded in history books.
This is not just a problem that can be solved by killing a few corrupt officials. Maybe even the emperor will have to be beaten to achieve complete reform.
But overall, as long as Zhao Jun continues to be in charge and continues to move forward, there is still hope.
Because the current communication cost of the Song Dynasty's top management is very low, unlike the Song Dynasty in the past, where they were instigating each other and holding each other back, resulting in nothing being accomplished.
And in many things, there is more trust and less suspicion between them, such as Fan Zhongyan's control of power.
The reason for this situation is that Zhao Jun's appearance clarified many things.
No matter in later generations or in ancient times, why do people like to use nepotism and arrange relatives in companies, officialdom, enterprises, and even dogs in the village once they gain power?
Just when communicating with relatives, there are not so many worries.
Imagine that if an outsider is under your control, you must be polite when speaking, and you must think over and over every word you say, for fear that if you express something wrong, the person under you will overthink and cause unnecessary trouble. Come.
For this reason, those in power often need to wrap up their true thoughts in countless layers of language to disguise them. They must be vague when speaking, and cannot speak too truthfully or too carefully. Each of them becomes a riddler.
Therefore, in ancient official circles, there was a saying of trying to figure out one's superior intentions. In the Ming Dynasty, it became a model, and Jiajing was the old riddler. Therefore, Yan Song and Xu Jie both became masters of trying to figure out one's intentions.
Relatives talk more casually, and they can say whatever they want. It doesn't even matter if brothers and fathers quarrel.
On the surface, it looks like they talk casually, but in fact it means that relatives exchange ideas more thoroughly and naturally, which is more conducive to work.
More importantly, there is a deeper interest alliance between relatives. When the group faces a crisis, outsiders are likely to change jobs in order to protect themselves.
But family members usually don't, because they often have no choice but to retreat.
Therefore, the underlying logic of nepotism and the so-called family business in later generations is actually to use blood relations as a bond to carry out deep-level interest bundling to prevent betrayal.
But the only person who couldn't apply this logic was the emperor.
The emperor cannot trust his relatives because his relatives may betray the emperor.
Just like Zhao Kuangyin trusted his younger brother so much, but was usurped by Zhao Guangyi in the end.
But it's different now.
Zhao Jun's appearance spoiled many things, which led to the three phases and three connections between Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan and the emperor. There was less of the original barrier and more frankness in speaking without so many scruples.
Because they have a secret to abide by together, and at the same time, to a certain extent, they also have a deep-seated alliance of interests.
In addition, Zhao Jun spoiled a lot of things, which led to a series of interest disputes between them.
So they talk a lot more candidly with each other.
This method of communication will obviously greatly increase work efficiency. Even if Fan Zhongyan goes to the northwest, he will not be hindered by various constraints and will have greater power.
So just when the people in the highest power structure of the Song Kingdom became allies of interests and jointly built the future, what did the upper level power structures of Xixia and Liao Kingdom look like at this time?
At this time, Li Yuanhao of Xixia had not yet proclaimed himself emperor. He had just executed his uncle Wei Mu's clan, his mother Wei Mu Shuangyang, his wife Queen Wei Mu, and his biological son born to him by Queen Wei Mu the year before. He would also kill his son and his son in the future. Kill your wife and steal your daughter-in-law.
In comparison, Liao Xingzong Yelu Zongzhen, who just imprisoned his mother and made his first queen a concubine, was really a filial son, a good husband, and a good father.
At this moment, in the Xixia Xingqing Mansion, Li Yuanhao's king's palace, he was reading a secret message sent by a spy.
In fact, Xixia has already established a country, but it is not an empire, but a kingdom. Starting from his grandfather Li Jiqian, Xixia has become independent from the Liao and Song Dynasties and has become a third-party power.
The Liao Kingdom named his grandfather the King of Xia, and the Song Dynasty named him King of Xiping. Later, Li Yuanhao's father Li Deming inherited his grandfather's title, and was further named King of Daxia by the Liao Kingdom. The Song Dynasty also named Li Deming the King of Xia. From then on, the Xixia Kingdom It basically became a kingdom.
Li Yuanhao has now inherited his father's inheritance, but he is far from satisfied with this. So in recent years, with the assistance of two trusted ministers, Ye Li Wangrong and Ye Li Yuqi, he began to prepare to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor.
Now the preparations for the enthronement are almost complete. A party regime that "ends the Yellow River in the east, Yumen in the west, Xiaoguan in the south, and controls the desert in the north, covering an area of more than 10,000 miles." They were all defeated in the battles, and the country was a little unstable, so there was some hesitation.
"Your Majesty, the Song people suddenly changed their commander at the border. They must be on guard against us. Now it's not easy to attack them southward. Maybe we should submit our credentials and continue to show weakness to the enemy so that they think we are not going south to invade. the meaning of."
Ye Li met Li Yuanhao and begged for more power, and spoke to Li Yuanhao in Xixia language.
Li Yuanhao glanced at Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao in the room, and said in Chinese: "The Song Dynasty has changed its border commander, shouldn't we go south? We have tried various methods in recent years to provoke the Song envoys and show the enemy's weakness , writing to the Song Emperor as a minister still cannot change the fact that they are on guard against us, so we might as well be more generous."
Zhang Yuan looked at Li Yuanhao gratefully, bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, the Song Dynasty is weak and cannot work together. Even if they feel that there is something wrong at the border, what can they do if they take precautions? As long as the strategy is appropriate, they will be defeated and seize the entire country. Shaanxi Road.”
Historically, Zhang Yuan advised Yuan Hao to block Tongguan and occupy Chang'an. Strategically, Xixia had always wanted to annex the entire Shaanxi Road. However, although Li Yuanhao defeated it many times, the Xixia army and civilians also suffered heavy casualties and the economy almost collapsed. It was already difficult to annex that much. The territory was large, so in the end the strategy failed.
However, Zhang Yuan went to Xixia in the first year of Jingyou, and was eventually appreciated by Li Yuanhao. He was promoted to the military advisor of the Great Xia Kingdom, and he has been encouraging Li Yuanhao to attack the Song Dynasty. It can be said that Li Yuanhao was actually so determined in attacking the Song Dynasty. He had at least three Two-thirds of the credit.
Only Ye Li Yuqi was still clear-headed and said: "Your Majesty, my Daxia has a small population and a small country. If the enemy is not prepared, it may be easy to defeat them. But if they are prepared, it is still not appropriate to break out a war with a strong neighbor."
"It's not like we haven't paid attention to the situation in the northwestern part of the Song Dynasty over the years. I've known their situation well for a long time. Even if they change their frontline coach, I'm actually not worried."
Li Yuanhao frowned, threw down the document in his hand and said: "I am only worried about the situation of the Political Yuan of Song Dynasty."
As he said that, he turned to look at Zhang Yuandao: "Military Advisor, you are from the Song Dynasty and have been to Bianliang many times. Have you heard of this man named Zhao Jun before?"
Zhang Yuan went to Bianliang many times to take exams, but failed to pass the Jinshi exam.
He shook his head and said: "I have never heard of this person. According to the detailed reports in Bianliang, this person only appeared in Bianliang in July and August last year. He was initially appointed as the Imperial City Secretary by the Emperor of Song Dynasty. The emperor established the Constitutional Yuan and made him the magistrate."
"This person's surname is Zhao. Could he be from the Zhao royal family?"
Li Yuanhao thought.
The first thing he thought about was not Zhao Jun's talents or Zhuge Liang's life, but what kind of connections Zhao Jun had.
It's not that he has bad intentions, it's the fact.
At least Zhang Yuan was indeed very talented, but he failed to pass the official examination in the Song Dynasty.
Based on the national conditions of the Song Dynasty, even if Han Xin came, he would have to study for two years. If Zhuge Liang was born again, he would probably have to shake his head and take the imperial examination.
In the Song Dynasty.
It is simply impossible for someone with extraordinary talents to reach the top of the world without passing the imperial examination.
So Li Yuanhao instinctively thought that Zhao Jun was from the royal family.
But he never thought that Zhao Jun, a time traveler, was almost deceived into taking the imperial examination, but he was forced to return to the city by coaxing, deceiving and threatening Zhao Zhen.
So a situation emerged that left Li Yuanhao scratching his head.
Zhang Yuan expressed doubts and said: "This is not in line with common sense. The Song Dynasty was most suspicious of the clan. How could it be possible for the clan surnamed Zhao to hold such high power?"
"Maybe he is Zhenzong's last son?"
Li Yuanhao thought of a possibility that everyone in Bianliang thought at the time.
Zhang Yuan couldn't laugh or cry and said: "If it is really Zhenzong's last son, then Emperor Song should be even more suspicious of him."
"never mind."
Li Yuanhao felt a headache, waved his hands and said: "Ignore this person for now, there are great changes in the Song Dynasty. We bribed some officials and learned that starting from this year, the Song Dynasty will send 20,000 more troops to the northwest border and transport a large amount of grain and grass. It seems to be guarding against us, what should we do?”
Ye Li Yuqi insisted on his opinion and said: "Your Majesty should send an envoy to the Song Dynasty to express to the Song Emperor Daxia's intention to establish friendship with the Song Dynasty. With the Liao Kingdom in the north, I believe the Song Dynasty will not dare to offend us too much."
Li Yuanhao said unhappily: "You were the one who advised me to become emperor, and you were the one who asked me to make friends with the Song Dynasty. Why on earth?"
Ye Li Yuqi shook his head and said: "There is actually no conflict between making friends with the Song Dynasty and proclaiming the emperor. After proclaiming the emperor, you can also conclude alliances with the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom is on the side, why do we have to provoke the Song Kingdom? ?”
This sentence made Li Yuanhao shaken.
Li Yuanhao was like this in history. Although he proclaimed himself emperor, he wrote to the Song Dynasty as a minister, tracing and commending his ancestors' relationship with the Central Plains Dynasty and their contributions, explaining the legitimacy of his founding of the country and proclaiming himself emperor, and asking the Song Dynasty to formally recognize him. title of emperor.
So it can be seen from here that Li Yuanhao is still in awe of the Song Dynasty and does not dare to go too far.
Until the Song Dynasty decisively refused him to proclaim himself emperor, and issued an edict to "cut off the officials and titles given by surnames" and stopped mutual trade. Posting a notice and offering a huge reward for the capture of high-ranking officials, the two sides completely turned against each other and broke up, and the war was about to break out.
Now that the Song Dynasty suddenly sent more troops to the northwest, it seemed to be preparing for his attack. In this case, Li Yuanhao had to consider whether to proceed as planned.
However, Zhang Yuan firmly advised Li Yuanhao to attack the Song Dynasty. He advised: "Your Majesty, no emperor in this world relies on charity from others. If you want to achieve the great cause of the emperor, you must rely on killing. Your Majesty, you must be the emperor." , will definitely make Song and Liao unhappy. If Song is defeated first, Liao will be afraid, and only then can the throne be stabilized."
Then he added: "If the Song State is not defeated and the prestige is established, both the Liao and Song States will feel that the king is weak and can be bullied. Pretending to be emperor is provoking the majesty of Song and Liao. Once they join forces to invade, then Daxia will The situation is at stake, so we must not hesitate, we must defeat one of them before we can establish a country!"
These words are still very touching.
In fact, Li Yuanhao not only professed his tribunalship to the Song Dynasty, but also to the Liao Kingdom. After proclaiming himself emperor, he would definitely offend Song and Liao.
If Song and Liao attack simultaneously after becoming emperor, it will definitely be very dangerous for them.
Therefore, only when proclaiming the emperor, the weaker Song Dynasty should be defeated immediately, so that the Song Dynasty would be unable to send troops, and then it would be able to calmly deal with the Liao Kingdom's attack.
"But."
Li Yuanhao worriedly asked: "What if we use troops against the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom takes the opportunity to invade?"
Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, the Liao Kingdom will definitely not come. On the contrary, when we use troops against the Song Dynasty, they may use their troops to intimidate the Song Dynasty."
"oh?"
Li Yuanhao asked puzzledly: "Why is this?"
"There are two reasons."
Zhang Yuan raised two fingers and said: "First, the Song State is strong and has many soldiers and horses. The Liao State is happy to see me, Daxia, go to war with the Song State first and weaken the Song State's strength."
"Well"
Li Yuanhao nodded thoughtfully, Zhang Yuan's words indeed made sense.
When the second child and the third child fight, does the boss intervene in the fight, or does he sit back and watch the fight? This is a no-brainer question.
When both the Xia and Song Dynasties were defeated, the Liao Kingdom, which was the strongest, could naturally reap the benefits.
"Both, the Liao Kingdom is far away and the Song Kingdom is close. Once a war breaks out with the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom's troops will not be able to cross the vast grassland to the northwest within a period of time."
Zhang Yuan continued: "So even if the Liao Kingdom invades, we can deal with it calmly."
"Um."
Li Yuanhao thought so.
Ye Li Yuqi said: "Now the Song Dynasty is building a defense line in the northwest. If we fail to defeat the Song State and the Liao State sends troops again, attacking from both sides, what should we do?"
"I thought that even if we didn't defeat the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty would not dare to chase beyond the Great Wall. At most, they would just stick to the Shaanxi Road to prevent us from continuing to attack."
Zhang Yuan said: "Because if Daxia really faces enemies from both sides, it will be very dangerous. But if Daxia is destroyed, the happiest people will not be the Song people, but the Liao people. The land of Daxia will be taken away by the Liao people, and the Liao country will become more powerful. , How can Da Song feel at ease?"
If the Liao Kingdom also comes to attack Xixia, the probability of Xixia's subjugation is very high. Then if Song and Liao jointly attack Xixia, whose hands will the territory of Xixia go to?
Of course, whoever is forced to surrender will do so.
Therefore, it is in the interests of the Song Dynasty that Xixia continues to exist to contain some of the Liao's forces.
That is to say.
Under normal circumstances, Li Yuanhao could not only provoke and attack the Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty had nothing to do with him. They also had to ensure that the Xixia regime continued to exist.
I have to say that this seems to be an invincible position.
Li Yuanhao was very happy after hearing Zhang Yuan's analysis and praised: "The military advisor is right. If we want to establish a country in Daxia, we must defeat the Song army. Let's follow the original plan and officially ascend the throne as emperor next year. Let's see. Song Ting's reaction: If the Song people want to turn against me, they will have to fight at worst! I will never be afraid!"
I feel like I'm in a state of confusion, and I don't know what I'm writing, but it's just the transition after the climax of these chapters, and then the climax continues.
(End of chapter)
