No matter what the victory was, Tong Guan was overjoyed. He sent a messenger overnight to report the victory to the court. He falsely reported that he had wiped out tens of thousands of enemies and recovered the three states of Shan, Huang, and Kuo in one fell swoop.
Emperor Huizong was overjoyed when the good news arrived in the capital. Because of Cai Jing's recommendation, Cai Jing was granted the title of Sikong and the Jin Dynasty granted him the title of Duke of Jia. Tong Guan was officially appointed as a Privy Council member, and Tong Guan was appointed as the envoy of Jingfu Palace and the observation envoy of Xiangzhou. Wang Hou was appointed as Wu Shengjun's Jiedu observer. , all the generals who accompanied the army on expeditions were rewarded.
After Cai Jing was awarded the title, he insisted on recommending Tong Guan for his merits. He became light-headed and arrogant every day. He ordered all matters in the court to be reported directly to the prime minister's office for consideration and decision-making.
From then on, Cai Jing and Tong Guan were favored by Huizong and became the most popular people in Huizong's dynasty. Since then, Tong Guan has transformed from a minister specializing in miscellaneous affairs to an acting Privy Council official, and has become the most important military official in the court. From then on, every time there was a war in the imperial court, Tong Guan, who was an eunuch, led the troops.
It's also strange. Although Tong Guan is a eunuch, he is tall and has a beard. What's even more strange is that as an eunuch, Tong Guan also had some military talents. In the following time, whenever there was a war, he led the troops to fight and won some battles in succession. As a result, Tong Guan became even more favored by Huizong. letter.
Later, when Tong Guan was deeply rooted and took charge of the military, he ignored Cai Jing. In order to monopolize the power of the court, Cai Jing naturally often quarreled with Tong Guan.
Since Tong Guan regained the land of Huang, Shan and Kuo as an imperial envoy and supervisor of the army, Emperor Huizong had doubly favored Tong Guan. He was willing to discuss many matters with Tong Guan, but he gradually treated the then prime minister lightly. Cai Jing. In addition, the imperial court also renamed Xihe Lanhui Road to West Holland Huang Road, and appointed Tong Guan as Privy Councilor and envoy for the economic and strategic pacification of West Holland Huang and Qinfeng Roads.
Seeing Tong Guan's growing power, Cai Jing, as the prime minister, felt very uncomfortable, so he looked for opportunities to do something to show his ability to control the overall situation, so as to gain favor in front of Emperor Huizong and suppress Tong Guan's rise.
The method Cai Jing came up with was to lure the border residents of Xixia.
In March of this year, Cai Jing secretly ordered Song general Tao Jiefu on Yan'an Road to lure the Xixia border people to return to the Song Dynasty in the Yan'an area in order to undermine the strength of the Xixia Kingdom.
Tao Jiefu followed Cai Jing's order and set up reception points in the area around Yan'an Road to lure and accept the Xixia border residents, distribute silver coins, and transport the Xixia border residents to live in the interior. For a time, people from the border areas of Xixia swarmed in and rushed to join the Song Dynasty.
The Xixia border officer then reported this situation to the Xixia court. When the King of Xixia learned of this situation, he was furious and dispatched troops to attack and plunder the border areas of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The emergence of this unexpected situation forced the northwest armies to use their forces to fight Xixia.
Doropa, the general who had been driven away by Tong Guan during his expedition to the three states of Huang, Shan and Kuo, saw that the main force of the Song army was gathering at the border between Song and Xia, and relaxed the defense of the Qing and Tang states, so he took advantage of the momentum of the Xixia army to attack the Song Dynasty. , led 30,000 troops and took advantage of the situation to attack Shanzhou.
Gao Yongnian, the magistrate of Shanzhou, heard the report and led his troops to resist. After leaving the city and traveling north for more than thirty miles, he was ambushed by Doropa troops. Gao Yongnian was defeated and captured due to the huge disparity in military strength. General Fan ordered his men to escort Gao Yongnian to Doropa.
Gao Yongnian was escorted to Doropa, with his head held high and his chest high, glaring at Doropa without any fear.
Doropa also glared at Gao Yongnian, wishing he could swallow Gao Yongnian in one gulp.
After the two glared at each other for a moment, Doropa turned to his soldiers, turned back and pointed at Gao Yongnian and said: "Look, this is the man who, under the command of the eunuch Tong Guan, took over our country and made our clan fall apart. In a foreign land, with nowhere to return, you are finally captured by me today. Even if you die a hundred times, you will not understand my hatred!"
The more Doropa talked, the angrier he became, and he shouted loudly: "Come here! Cut this man's belly open and rip out his heart, I will eat his heart and liver!"
After hearing the order, Barodo's men rushed forward and gouged out Gao Yongnian's heart and liver with a knife.
Gao Yongnian died amid screams.
Fan Bing handed Gao Yongnian's heart and liver dripping with blood to Barodo, who ate Gao Yongnian's heart and liver in one mouthful without even frowning.
After eating Gao Yongnian's heart and soul, Baruoduo became excited and ordered his soldiers and generals to contact everywhere and gather people to attack the states of Tang and Tang Dynasties.
Instigated by Barodo, the Qiang and Tubo people gathered together to set fire and burned the wooden bridge on the Datong River. They rebelled against the Song Dynasty and attached themselves to the Xia Dynasty. There was a great earthquake in the northwest.
When the news reached the court, Emperor Huizong Long Yan was furious and wanted to punish the northwest frontier general regardless of the cause of the incident.
The person who served as the military commander of the Northwest Wusheng Army was Wang Hou, the supreme leader of the northwest armies.
Before this, Wang Hou had bribed Cai Jing, hoping to be promoted by Cai Jing.
It coincided with the imperial court's Western Expedition. When Cai Jing strongly recommended Tong Guan, he also recommended Wang Hou, intending to make Wang Hou his deputy general. Therefore, Zheng Juzhong recommended Wang Hou as the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition. During the Western Expedition, the three states of Shan, Huang, and Kuo were successfully recovered. Cai Jing was granted the titles of Sikong and Duke of Jia by the Jin Dynasty. Tong Guan was also awarded the title of Jingfu Palace Envoy and Xiangzhou Observer Envoy. Wang Hou only received the Military Victory Festival. Stay under observation.
Wang Hou thought to himself, I, who led the troops in the war, got all the credit for you, but I gained nothing from being granted the title of general. For this reason, Wang Hou had many complaints against Cai Jing and Tong Guan. Now, chaos is rising in the northwest. Cai Jing is afraid that the responsibility will be placed on himself, so he puts all the blame on Wang Hou. Wang Hou was blameless and was demoted by the imperial court to be the defense envoy of Yingzhou.
Wang Hou felt wronged. At the beginning, Wang Hou was the marshal of the expedition to the west. Originally, the imperial army had strong soldiers, strong horses, and many generals. It could completely surround the Qingtang people and annihilate them. However, Tong Guan, the imperial envoy and supervisor sent by the Holy Emperor, insisted on besieging the city on three sides and letting go. As a result, the Qingtang soldiers abandoned the city and fled, leaving behind future troubles. Logically speaking, this responsibility should be borne by Tong Guan. Now the Holy One does not punish Tong Guan for his crimes, but wants to punish mine and demote me to Yingzhou Defense Envoy. What is the reason? !
Qian Ang, who was the magistrate of Qinzhou and the comfort envoy of Qin Fenglu at the time, also had full opinions on Tong Guan. However, the rank difference between Qian Ang and Tong Guan was very different, so he had nothing to do with Tong Guan, but he looked down on Tong Guan in his heart.
Because Emperor Huizong demoted Wang Hou without any hesitation, Cai Jing was also dissatisfied. Tong Guan saw the opportunity and spread the news that Cai Jing had recruited Xixia border people without authorization and caused this disaster. Emperor Huizong was therefore even more dissatisfied with Cai Jing and favored Tong Guan even more. He oversaw the affairs of the Privy Council and supervised the war in the northwest.
As a result, the responsibility for summoning the Xixia border people fell on Cai Jing alone, which was equivalent to Emperor Huizong depriving Cai Jing of strategic decision-making power in the northwest.
Since then, Tong Guan has solely controlled the military power in the northwest.
After the New Year, in the first month of the second year of Daguan, Tong Guan led his troops to attack the Xige tribe of Tubo. By April, Prince Zang Zhengpu of Xige was defeated and surrendered. The Song Army regained Xige City and reorganized it into the Jishi Army. After that, the Song army regained Taozhou. Because of this military merit, Tong Guan was promoted to Sikong of the Military Academy and continued to be in charge of the work of guarding the northwest border.
As his achievements accumulated and his power increased, Tong Guan became arrogant and domineering. Whether selecting generals or planning troops, he dared to do whatever he liked or dislike. On many important matters, he did not ask Emperor Huizong for instructions at all, but made his own decisions without paying attention to Cai Jing, the prime minister of the dynasty. Even when he was dealing with people, he had his nostrils pointed upward, with a arrogant air, and he was not as respectful to Cai Jing as before. For this reason, the displeasure between Cai Jing and Tong Guan gradually arose.
Seeing that Tong Guan's military talents were outstanding, Emperor Huizong wanted to promote Tong Guan again and grant him the power to open the third division of Yitong, equivalent to the power of an envoy. Cai Jing intervened. Cai Jing said plausibly to everyone: " How can the power of envoy be given to eunuchs casually?" Emperor Huizong also heard some rumors, so he canceled the post conferred on Tong Guan to the third division of Yitong in Kaifeng.
However, at this time, Tong Guan was no longer the Tong Guan who was waiting in the palace, but the Privy Councilor and the highest military officer on the northwest front.
Tong Guan is also domineering, loves to show off his authority, and often patrols everywhere, looking like a bully. Seeing Tong Guan's overwhelming power, the generals at the border also welcomed him and flattered him, but Commander Tong followed suit.
Among the northwest frontier officials, Qian Ang, the prefect of Qinzhou and the pacification envoy of Qin Fenglu, once accompanied Tong Guan and Wang Hou to recover the three states of Shan, Huang and Kuo. During the battle, it was clear that Tong Guan was able to annihilate all the soldiers and generals and recapture the city, but Tong Guan surrounded the city on three sides, let go of one gate, and used cleverness and intimidation to recapture the above three cities, causing Barodo and other generals to escape, resulting in Gao Yongnian's disaster. Qian Ang looked down on Tong Guan because of this, so while other generals were scrambling to curry favor with Tong Guan, Qian Ang was the only one who was proud and disdainful of Tong Guan.
Tong Guan felt extremely uncomfortable with Qian Ang's contempt, and always wanted to find opportunities to ridicule Qian Ang so that Qian Ang would respect him more.
One day, Tong Guan went to Qinzhou for inspection. He dilly-dallyed along the way and deliberately arrived at Qinzhou much later than the agreed time.
Qian Ang, the magistrate of Qinzhou and the pacifier of Qin Fenglu, had been impatient for a long time. After finally waiting for the arrival of Marshal Tong Guantong, he asked Tong Guandao: "Why did the Marshal come so late? I am already waiting here." It's been a long time." Qian Angnai is a small man and lean. Tong Guan looked at Qian Ang and replied with a pun: "You don't know?! Look, the donkey I'm riding today is small and has a stubborn temper. It jumps frequently and is difficult to control. That's why I came here." Too late, let Qian appease make you wait for a long time."
Tong Guan's words were obviously to scold Qian Ang for being short and like an unruly donkey.
When Qian Ang heard this, he remained calm, pretending to be confused, and asked Tong Guandao: "Is the donkey the commander is riding on a male donkey?"
Tong Guan replied: "Of course it's a male donkey. How can a female donkey be used to remake a war riding horse?"
Qian Ang laughed when he heard this, and also said with a pun: "Since the commander-in-chief can't help him, why not castrate this 'male donkey'!"
Hearing this, Tong Guan knew that Qian Ang was mocking him for being an eunuch. He was so angry that he couldn't help it, so he had to suppress his anger.
In addition to being arrogant at the border, Tong Guan also took aim at Cai Jing's power and wanted to squeeze Cai Jing out so that he could monopolize Emperor Huizong's favor.
Therefore, Tong Guan began to win over ordinary ministers in the court, and he couldn't get along with Cai Jing.
Besides, Cai Jing, because he recommended Tong Guan and Wang Hou to win the battle, and was awarded the title of Sikong and Duke of Jia by Emperor Huizong, he became even more domineering, arrogant and domineering, and did not look down upon the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty. Cai Jing was so complacent that he did not notice that other ministers had begun to oppose him, including Tong Guan, whom he recommended for promotion. What's more serious is that under the instigation of Tong Guan and others, Emperor Huizong gradually disliked seeing Cai Jing.
Because Tong Guan had won several battles in recent years, he felt that he was very great. He was the first military strategist in the dynasty. He sought more decision-making power on many matters. He did not discuss with Cai Jing and others, but only asked Emperor Huizong. One person reports.
Tong Guan did something next, which directly dragged Song Dynasty into the abyss of disaster.
