The arrival of the Western Army suddenly stabilized the situation in Bianjing. The Jin army withdrew to Moutuogang in the northern suburbs and did not dare to act rashly. Zhong Shidao, who was appointed by Qin Zong as the Shaofu of the Inspectorate, Tongzhi Privy Council, and Propaganda Envoy of the two rivers in the capital, strengthened the defense of Bianjing, but did not take the initiative to attack the Jin army.
Zhongshidao's consideration for this move is that the current Bianjing army is not strong enough to defeat the Jin army in one battle. He wants to wait for the arrival of the Western Army from other towns led by his younger brother Zhongshizhong, so that he can concentrate his superior forces and annihilate them all in one fell swoop. Jin Guo East Route Army led by Yan Zongwang.
Before this, Bianjing was besieged and all the gates were closed. The lives of the people in the city were inconvenient, and the supply of materials in the city was also scarce. Zhong Shidao considered that if this situation continued, the overall situation would be unstable, so he went to Qinzong and requested that the west gate and south gate be opened. , allowing people to come and go freely.
When Qinzong heard the performance, he had a troubled look on his face and said to Zhongshidao: "I am not correct in everything you have played. But if we open the west and south gates and the Jin army rushes in, what will happen?" Zhongshidao responded. Said: "Reply to Your Majesty. The current strength of our army is not enough to attack the Jin army immediately, but we can guard Bianjing with no risk. Please open the west gate and south gate, and I will deploy capable generals and troops to control If the Jin army acts rashly in this area, they will be shot without mercy."
After hearing the report, Emperor Qinzong pondered for a while and then said: "The city defense of Bianjing is in charge of you. It is up to you to decide whether to open the west gate and the south gate. It is just to ensure that everything in the capital is safe."
Zhong Shidao replied: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the safety of Bianjing lies with me."
Immediately, Zhong Shidao said goodbye and left the palace, and arranged for Ma Zhong to lead an army of 10,000 horses to guard and control the west gate and south gate. If there were any harassment by Jin soldiers, they would be killed without mercy. After arranging and deploying the defense troops and horses, Zhong Shidao ordered the west gate and south gate of Bianjing to be opened, so that people in the city could enter and exit freely.
In Bianjing City, supplies were already scarce. Many families, especially merchants, had low inventories. When they learned that the West Gate and South Gate were opened, they took advantage of the opportunity of the imperial court to open the West Gate and South Gate and swarmed out of the city to purchase and reserve supplies.
In the distance, Jin soldiers saw the west and south gates of Bianjing opening and the people flocking out of the city, so they hurried over to stop them. Upon seeing this, Ma Zhong hurriedly ordered his horse troops to dispatch and kill all the hundreds of gold soldiers who came to harass them.
The Jin army was greatly panicked, fled back to Moutuogang, and reported the above situation to Wanyan Zongwang. At this time, Wanyan Zongwang was also afraid of provoking a war with the Song army, so he beheaded the Jin general who took the lead in the harassment, and then sent Wang Ru to the Song court to complain.
Wang Ru received the order and came to Bianjing. Under the leadership of Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan, he entered the palace to meet Qinzong Zhao Huan. Wang Ru entered the main hall, took small steps, and hurried to Qin Zong's dragon table. He bent his knees and saluted, saying, "I am a humble envoy to pay homage to the great emperor." His attitude was very respectful.
When Qinzong saw this, he was very pleased and said humbly: "Your Majesty, please don't be too polite. Please sit down. If you have anything to do, just tell me." Wang Rui looked at Qinzong with his hands clasped in fists, performing Han rituals, and then said: "Let me tell you something." Great Emperor, I have been ordered by the second prince of my family to come to your country to complain." Qinzong asked: "What does your envoy have to complain about?" Wang Ru replied: "Your country's soldiers and horses guard the city, and they are good at killing our soldiers. Hundreds of people, please ask the Emperor to deal with them."
After hearing the report, Qinzong looked at Wang Ru and asked: "Where did our soldiers and horses kill hundreds of your soldiers?" Wang Ru replied: "Outside the west gate of Bianjing." Qinzong asked again: "Your soldiers What are you doing outside the west gate?" Wang Ru replied truthfully: "To prevent the people, soldiers and civilians of your country from leaving the city." Qin Zong said: "The people, soldiers and civilians of our country are leaving the city, and what they are leaving is the city of our country, why do your soldiers stop them?" Wang Rusui said directly: "Send this to the Emperor. The current situation has become a reality. Our army has arrived at Bianjing City. Your country has requested peace, and our country has also approved your country's request for peace. The soldiers of the two countries must abide by the covenant and mutually respect each other. We are bound and must not break the contract without authorization. I am here to inform the Great Emperor that your prince and Grand Master are still in our military camp. Please think twice and restrain your country’s soldiers and horses not to start a war or cause serious consequences.”
If Wang Ru had threatened Qin Zong like this before the arrival of Zhong Shi Dao's Western Army, Qin Zong would have been afraid; but now, Qin Zong was no longer afraid, because Zhong Shi Dao's Western Army, King Qin, came to escort him and killed hundreds of them. It's a golden soldier, but the golden soldier didn't do anything. Instead, he came to complain. This was a sign of weakness. Based on this, Qinzong regretted making peace with the Jin Kingdom too early and sending Zhao Gou and Zhang Bangchang to the Jin camp as hostages.
Qinzong thought to himself, if there were no ninth brother Zhao Gou and Dazai Zhang Bangchang as hostages in the Jin camp, I would immediately mobilize all the soldiers and horses in the Western Army and Bianjing City to encircle and annihilate the Jin Army, capture Wanyan Zongwang, and make the Jin people never dare to peek again. My territory of the Song Dynasty.
With this in mind, Qinzong said to Wang Ru: "The affairs between the two countries are of course mainly based on negotiation. However, the defense of Bianjing in our country is entirely handled by the imperial inspector, Tongzhi Privy Councilor, and the governor of the two rivers in the capital. I am not in charge of making Lao Zhong responsible for things like this. Please go to Lao Zhong and let Lao Zhong handle it!"
After saying that, Qinzong turned to look at Bai Shizhong and Li Yangang, and said: "You two ministers can take your envoy to Lao Zhong. After the two ministers saw Lao Zhong, they persuaded him hard and asked Lao Zhong to deal with the situation. The army under our control must be strictly controlled, and we must not allow some brave soldiers to constantly deploy and attack without permission to attack other countries' troops."
Qinzong said this deliberately to intimidate Wang Rui, the envoy of Jin.
Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan heard the order and took the gold envoy Wang Ru to Zhongshidao.
At Zhongshi Dao, the Jin envoy Wang Rui told Zhongshi Dao the specific situation. Master Zhong said: "Your soldiers and horses invaded my territory and attacked my capital. Instead, you complained that our soldiers and horses killed your soldiers. How can there be such truth in the world?! However, things have become like this, and the two countries have also reached an agreement. Let’s make peace. As the general manager of Bianjing city defense, I can temporarily restrain my subordinates from attacking your troops. However, you must strictly abide by the agreement between the two parties and must not cross the border without authorization and harass our people, soldiers and civilians. Otherwise, I will kill you without mercy; if there is any need to cross the border, , you need to take the initiative to indicate it. Let’s do this. I will give you the pattern of the cross-border flag. You can imitate it and hold it when you cross the border. Then our soldiers will know the reason and they will not kill your soldiers.”
Immediately, Zhongshi Dao ordered his subordinates to bring a yellow flag. Zhongshi Dao drew a dog's head on it and said, "That's it!" and asked his subordinates to take it to Wang Rui.
The subordinate handed the yellow flag to Wang Rui. Wang Ru took it and looked at it, then rolled it up, said goodbye to Zhongshidao, exited Zhongshidao's tent, and returned to Moutuogang to revive Wanyan Zongwang.
Wanyan Zongwang saw the cross-border flag brought by Wang Rui of the Formation. Although he was unhappy, he had no other choice, so he ordered the generals and soldiers to follow the same self-control. All generals and soldiers were not allowed to cross the border without permission without a flag.
Since then, the Jin people have drawn the ground as a prison, and no one dares to cross the border anymore. The soldiers and civilians in Bianjing City swaggered in and out of the west gate and south gate to purchase materials, but the Jin people just watched willingly and did not dare to stop them anymore.
The situation in Bianjing was temporarily stabilized, and Qinzong thought about punishing Bianjing, Tong Guan, Wang Fu and other treacherous ministers.
Prior to this, the generals of the Imperial Forest Army had led hundreds of soldiers to Yongzhou and Xunzhou to carry out Qinzong's order to kill Zhao Liangsi and imprison Zhu Meng.
Since Zhao Liangsi was demoted to Yongzhou, Hunan by Huizong Zhao Ji, he has been in panic all day long.
Zhao Liangsi felt aggrieved by the fact that he was demoted to Yongzhou by Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji. Zhao Liangsi felt that his initiative to unite with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty and regain the territory of the sixteen states of Yanyun was indeed a good idea. Later, in order to sign a maritime treaty with the Jin Kingdom, he traveled between the Jin and Song Dynasties several times, and finally signed a maritime treaty between the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, and he also made many contributions. Since the signing of the Maritime Covenant, the imperial court has indeed recovered the six states of Yanjing with the help of the Jin Kingdom. The ten Yunshuo states will also be returned to the imperial court after the Jin Kingdom captures Yelu Yanxi, Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Kingdom. In this case, the imperial court should abide by the covenant signed by both parties, rather than taking the initiative to recruit rebels and provoke the Jin Kingdom. For this matter, I just petitioned the Holy Emperor and asked the court not to violate the covenant and recruit subordinate officials and generals of the Jin Kingdom to surrender and accept rebellion. As a result, the Holy Emperor demoted me to Yongzhou.
Zhao Liangsi further thought that demoting me to Yongzhou was a trivial matter. It was nothing more than personal gain and loss. Just look at it. The key is that breaking the covenant would trigger a war between Song and Jin Dynasties, and the imperial court's combat power was not as good as that of the Jin Kingdom. It would definitely happen. Bring about huge disaster.
Thinking of this consequence, Zhao Liangsi became panicked. He knew that once a war broke out between the Jin and Song Dynasties, and the imperial court could not defeat the Jin Kingdom, it would inevitably use himself as a scapegoat. died.
Sure enough, the Jin State used the Zhang Jue incident as an excuse to launch a massive attack on the Song Dynasty.
When Zhao Liangsi heard about this situation, he was extremely frightened. He kept sending his cronies to the north to inquire about the progress of the war between the Jin and Song Dynasties. From his cronies, Zhao Liangsi learned that the Jin army had crossed the Yellow River, that Emperor Huizong had given the throne to Prince Zhao Huan, and that Emperor Huizong also went to Bozhou to offer incense. After hearing these situations constantly, Zhao Liangsi understood in his heart that he was finished and that it wouldn't take too long for someone to come and kill him according to the order.
On this day, Zhao Liangsi was sitting in the hall, thinking about something, when he heard the shout of "The imperial edict has arrived! Zhao Liangsi has accepted the edict." Zhao Liangsi was frightened, jumped down from the imperial chair, and ran out in a hurry.
Zhao Liangsi ran out of the hall and saw a general of the Royal Forest Army, leading a hundred soldiers, standing in front of the hall. When Zhao Liangsi was frightened, he knelt on the ground and shouted with a trembling voice: "I, Zhao Liangsi, would like to listen to the imperial edict."
The general of the Royal Forest Army unfolded the imperial edict and read out: "By God's blessing, the emperor issued an edict: Zhao Liangsi is a lower-level Khitan official. In order to seek glory and wealth, he did not hesitate to make up lies, use his eloquent words to confuse the saints, and signed a document that harmed the court and the people. The maritime alliance resulted in the Jin invaders entering the country, the imperial court losing power and humiliating the country, and the common people being ravaged. The consequences were extremely serious, and not killing him would not be enough to anger the common people. Therefore, I have issued an order to behead the culprit, Zhao Liangsi, in public display. I admire this!"
After Zhao Liangsi heard this, he was trembling all over and cried and replied: "I sincerely obey the imperial edict."
As soon as Zhao Liangsi finished speaking, a soldier from the Royal Forest Army rushed over, swung his ghost-headed sword, and slashed Zhao Liangsi's neck. Zhao Liangsi's head was seen flying up in the air, and a stream of blood flew into the air, falling to the ground, and then a "click" was heard.
The general of the Royal Forest Army looked around at the other soldiers and ordered: "Behead all the culprits Zhao Liangsi!" Following the general's order, a group of soldiers of the Royal Forest Army rushed into Zhao Liangsi's hall and all corners, killing all Zhao Liangsi's family members who were found. , kill them all.
After the beheading was completed, the general of the Royal Forest Army led his soldiers to leave.
