Damao Mountain.
This is where the Beiyue Temple is located. When the Liao army invaded, this place was under fire. Later Emperor Taizong ordered the Beiyue Temple to be rebuilt.
Later, when Han Qi became a bachelor of the Zizheng Palace, he was appointed as the pacification envoy on Dingzhou Road, the commander-in-chief of troops and horses, and the governor of Dingzhou. He also rebuilt the Beiyue Temple, and now the stele remains.
Today, when Zhang Yue went to Beiyue Temple and saw this stone tablet written by Han Qi himself, he couldn't help but miss him.
When Han Qi was appointed as the pacifier of Dingzhou, he experienced the failure of Shuichuan and the Qingli New Deal, and he also had great ambitions to reorganize the army and develop military affairs.
Later, when Wang Anshi changed the law and Han Qi sentenced Daming Mansion, he changed his mind.
At that time, Emperor Taizong and Emperor Renzong visited Damingfu Tianyou many times and wrote dozens of imperial poems, which were later engraved on stone tablets by Jia Changchao. These imperial poems were all about promoting ambition and conquering the north.
After Han Qi saw it, he ordered people to hide these stone tablets. Later, someone who was good at figuring out the holy meaning copied the inscriptions and presented them to the officials. Han Qi sighed, don’t I know how to do this? I'm just afraid that the emperor will see it. He is determined to pacify the barbarians, so I must not let him see it.
Zhang Yue admired Han Qi, but he didn't quite agree with Han Qi's attitudes.
After arriving at Beiyue Temple, Zhang Yue's hundreds of attendants were stationed outside the temple.
Zhang Yue now left all negotiations to Han Zhen and Li Ping, and became the boss himself. He wanted to come here incognito with only a few people, but Lu Gongru refused and had to send troops to protect him. The emperor's will is unpredictable, and the aggressiveness of the Liao Kingdom gave Zhang Yue a headache, so he stopped sitting in Zhending Mansion and went to Beiyue Temple to find some peace and quiet.
But when he is in this position, he wants to be pure but cannot.
Miao Zhu was shocked when he heard that Xianggong was here and hurried to receive him. However, Zhang Yue ordered them not to reveal his whereabouts, so Miao Zhu sealed the temple and did not allow anyone to visit the mountain.
This was not the peak season for incense, so it didn’t cause too much trouble.
There are several villages at the foot of the mountain, and the local government only told them that the temple would be closed for a few days and not to be disturbed, so it did not alarm too many people.
While the Song and Liao envoys were quarreling with each other, except for a few people in Zhending Mansion, no one knew that Zhang Yue, the Xuanfu envoy of Hebei and Hedong, was actually living alone at this moment. Near Beiyue Temple.
Zhang Yue did not live in the temple, but found a cave next to the temple to live.
In the past, I heard that many Taoist monks came here to meditate and gain enlightenment in this cave. There were also eminent monks who meditated facing the wall here for several years.
The cave is surrounded by mountains and trees, and there is a stream at the foot of the mountain with a single-plank bridge on it. This is the only path to the outside world.
Zhang Yue lived alone in a cave. In this paradise, he carefully thought about the plans of the Song and Liao Dynasties.
Of course, it is not completely isolated from the outside world. Someone delivers two meals a day. In addition, any military and political news on Hebei and Hedong Road, official documents and private letters from the capital to the Xuanfu Division, and even the residence records of the Imperial Academy are copied without interruption. To the cave.
Zhang Yuehui made a disclosure in the cave.
Zhang Yue has always been good at delegating power. Cai Jing and Cai Bian brothers in the Xuanfu Division can all take charge of their own affairs. Xu Xi, Tong Guan and Chen Mu also have their own strengths.
Xu Xi was good at military affairs, Chen Mu was good at diplomacy, and Tong Guan was good at intelligence.
In particular, Tong Guan gave Zhang Yue a lot of surprises. Tong Guan was not only an expert in intelligence, but also good at understanding people's thoughts. When Tong Guan wrote secret memorials to officials, he always gave Zhang Yue the first look. Tong Guan said that he didn't know a few Chinese characters and asked Zhang Yue to correct them for him.
As long as they are here, Zhang Yue is willing to let go.
Not to mention that there is also his father-in-law, Senior Brother Cai and others in Beijing to protect him.
When he is in this position, he should consider the overall situation instead of intervening in specific matters. In Wang Anshi's words, it is possible to save the details and discuss the general outline.
Because of this, Zhang Yue did not show how busy he was in the Xuanfu Department, working hard for the country, and imitating Zhuge Liang to take care of everything. Instead, he handed things over to trusted people and planned the overall situation himself.
Now Tang Jiu and Zhang Gong led their men to secure the only way in and out of the cave, and no one was allowed to disturb it. Even local officials who wanted to go up the mountain to have a meeting were refused.
Let Zhang Yue feel clean enough to think about problems.
Of course, Zhangyue was also very satisfied with the cave. Although spring was late in the north and he had to wear thick clothes in the mountain home, the lush scenery seemed to bring him back to his hometown in Jianzhou.
Zhang Yuezai often makes tea in the cave and drinks it himself.
He doesn't like to eat Tuancha, but likes to eat herbal tea, the kind that is brewed directly. From this point of view, he and Lu Huiqing are the few officials in Beijing who like to eat herbal tea.
Zhang Yue drank tea and lay on his back on the couch.
A bookshelf was installed next to the couch. The bookshelf was filled with classics on the Seventeenth History. In addition, there were two books on the New History of the Five Dynasties and the New Book of the Tang Dynasty compiled by Ouyang Xiu.
This is a classic book that he carries with him wherever he goes, although with his photographic memory, he has already memorized these books by heart.
Whenever he is indecisive, he likes to randomly pick out a book and open it to read, and there will always be some unexpected inspiration.
After reading like this for half a day, Zhang Yue went to the desk to correct the official documents. It was almost time for dinner, and Tang Jiu brought Zhang Yue official documents, letters and meals, and then took away the dishes and chopsticks from the previous meal and the corrected official documents.
Zhang Yue's meal was very simple, two vegetarian dishes, one soup, and the most important thing was a big bowl of rice. These are daily vegetarian dishes in Beiyue Temple, not big fish or meat.
Zhang Yue is not picky about what he eats, but the most important thing is that he must have enough rice. This is all the sequelae of the tight diet and clothing when copying books with Guo Lin. He has a very big appetite, and he still has this appetite even after many years of good food and clothing.
A light diet also gave Zhang Yue enough time and energy to think about problems.
Now that Song and Liao are fighting, the outcome of this game of negotiation does not depend on the words of Zhending Mansion's envoy team, but on the comprehensive contest of national strength and ideology between the two countries.
In other words, a winning team will not change its tactics until it loses.
Zhang Yue has always advocated playing games and fighting each other through negotiations or small-scale wars. This should be regarded as the norm, and finally internal reforms should be promoted through external means.
The truth is said ten thousand times, and it will be useful if you suffer a loss once. In the words of his uncle Zhang Dexiang, who taught Fu Bi and Han Qi, he never scolded his children when he saw them jumping around, but he learned to be obedient when they hit their heads against the wall.
Wang Anshi's strategy of regulating the country and lashing out the four barbarians was to suppress the Liao and Xixia through reforms, then realize the shortcomings through the game with the Liao and Xixia, and then promote reforms in turn. This is an internal and external circulation system.
The most important thing is to be strong, dare to compete actively, and constantly look for reasons from yourself through external pressure.
Therefore, Zhang Yue scorned the officials' approach of giving in to the Liao Kingdom and then fighting against Xixia with all their strength. Suppressing Xixia and the Liao Kingdom were not the goal. When the country became stronger, these were just convenient things.
You can lose in negotiations with the Liao Kingdom, but you still have to gain something if you lose, which is to make the superiors and subordinates aware of their shortcomings and continue to deepen reforms. Emperor Renzong also suffered heavy losses in the Xixia War before he started the Qingli Reform.
For example, in the current confrontation with the Liao Kingdom, Hebei soldiers and horses have paid attention to their cavalry equipment and improved the military discipline that has been lax for many years. Shen Kuo's reform of the weapons supervision has also gone smoothly, and the cavalry's nemesis, the divine arm bow, has also been adopted by the Song Dynasty. The military unanimously approved. Without this opportunity, Zhang Yue would not have been able to achieve his goal easily.
It is absolutely not advisable to lie down, but it is also not advisable to go to war with the Liao Kingdom.
Once an all-out war breaks out between Song and Liao, not only will Xixia take advantage of the situation, but the reform will also be interrupted. No one can afford this consequence.
Zhang Yue learned from another time and space history that the Liao Kingdom did not send troops. But he did not dare to underestimate the determination of the Liao Kingdom. Yelu Hongji was unwilling to fight, but it did not mean that he did not dare to fight.
Once the Liao Kingdom found that they could not suppress the Song Dynasty, which had bowed to him in the past, they would send troops because everyone would push down the wall.
Officials have been urging Zhang Yue to immediately negotiate peace with Liao.
But peace is not the goal, struggle is the goal. To be honest, we don’t care about the two or three hundred miles.
…
After thinking about this, Zhang Yue continued to rest.
Life in Shanju was very good, and it had been a long time since he had thought about things so clearly. Living in a cave far away from the world made him feel like he was waiting for others.
He walked out of the cave early every morning, fetched mountain spring water, boiled it on a small stove, and made tea for himself.
He could sit like this all day with a cup of tea and a book.
He has completely left the affairs of the Xuanfu Division to the people below.
He dared to let go because Song and Liao were not going to go to war at the moment, and the negotiations between the two sides could not produce results for the time being. He also had trust in his staff and also gave them a chance to practice.
The battle between Song Dynasty and Liao Dynasty was not on the stage, but on the stage, and it was a matter of who could keep calm.
Counting on his fingers, Zhang Yue had stayed in the cave for three days.
The life here made him feel relaxed and happy, and he thought about things more clearly.
At this time Tang Jiu came up again to deliver meals and official documents.
Zhang Yue saw that there were three circles drawn with a red pen in the letter. This was a very urgent official document and was at the top of the priority list.
Zhang Yue opened the letter and started reading while holding a bowl of rice.
The letter stated that Xixia Prime Minister Liang Yimi mobilized troops and horses to prepare to attack Shaanxi Second Road. At the same time, Xixia also received strong support from the Liao Kingdom.
Seeing this, Zhang Yue immediately understood the reason for the aggressiveness of Liao's negotiations this time.
This matter was expected by Zhang Yue. Of course, he was not predicting the situation, but he had done a good job and made calculations in advance for everything that might happen.
As the saying goes, the one with more temples wins!
When the Xihe Road cavalry was reinforcing Hedong, the Liao State provoked Xixia to send troops to Shaanxi. This was not surprising.
This is a crisis, but there is also opportunity in crisis, which in turn is also an opportunity.
If the Song Dynasty defeated Xixia in Shaanxi without the support of the Xihe Road cavalry, what kind of blow would it have to the confidence of Liao and Xixia?
The victory or defeat of the country's comprehensive game is based on the victory of struggle after struggle.
The confidence brought by victory in a struggle is far greater than the benefits obtained from negotiations.
Those who are good at planning win with momentum and determination, rather than the gains and losses of a city or a place.
Now the winner of this Song-Liao game has come.
