Qiao Rong was thinking hard about how to throw the blame away, and the cutie Jing Yanguang volunteered to offer this gift.
Qiao Rong suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, showed his shock and fear in a cooperative manner, and then said sincerely and humbly: "Listening to your words is worth ten years of reading. What the prime minister has learned is that the amount of information in just a few words is too much." Sir, please forgive my stupidity. Firstly, I am worried that I will not be able to fully and accurately convey the Prime Minister’s teachings and instructions after returning to China. Secondly, I am worried that the Lord of Liao does not believe me and thinks that I am talking nonsense... How about this, you just put it into words If you want to write it down, I will forward it directly to Lord Liao to avoid any mistakes."
Jing Yanguang was very happy, "A boy can be taught! Come and serve me with pen and ink!"
Afterwards, Jing Yanguang dictated, and the clerk quickly took notes, then copied them, and Jing Yanguang signed and stamped them to express his approval.
Qiao Rong carefully took the letter and hid it against his chest under his underwear. This is his lifeline.
After returning to Khitan, Qiao Rong briefly described the matter in its entirety and presented the ironclad evidence, "Your Majesty, please see, this is the attitude of the later Jin Dynasty towards me, Daliao!"
Yelu Deguang was furious again and ordered the arrest of all the envoys of the Later Jin Dynasty in Khitan. They were all imprisoned in Youzhou. They were not allowed to come to Linhuang Mansion in Beijing to have an audience, but they were also allowed to return to the Later Jin Dynasty. The detention of diplomats was a response to the later Jin Dynasty's killing of Khitan merchants.
Historical records record that after this incident, "the Khitan became increasingly angry" and "(Yelü Deguang) became determined to join the invaders." Afterwards, the two countries "continued to fight each other."
Therefore, the "Qiao Rong Incident" is regarded by the mainstream view as the trigger of the Shanxi-Liao War.
In addition, another stupid behavior of Jing Yanguang also became the inducement of the Shanxi-Liao War, which was his actions against the "Big Three".
In order to monopolize the government affairs, Jing Yanguang tried his best to promote the radical "anti-Liao movement" at the central level; at the local level, he was also slowly advancing the work of reducing vassal status against the powerful "Big Three".
As a rising star in the political arena, Jing Yanguang's comprehensive strength is still relatively weak, and his movement to reduce vassal states is relatively cautious. Liu Zhiyuan is a direct descendant of the late emperor from Hedong, and Du Chongwei is a relative of the emperor. Only Yang Guangyuan, who was a retired general, is one of the "three A soft persimmon among "giants", so Jing Yanguang decided to take action on Yang Guangyuan first.
In order to appease Yang Guangyuan, Shi Jingtang lent him 300 war horses. Nowadays, the imperial court has ordered the "horse collection" to collect public and private horses from all over the world for military use in preparation for the Khitan war. Therefore, Jing Yanguang claimed that he was under Shi Chonggui's order and asked him for these horses.
This is a horse I borrowed based on my strength, why should I return it?
At that moment, Fan Yanguang's voice and smile appeared in front of Yang Guangyuan. Yang Guangyuan said sadly and angrily to the people around him: "They are finally going to attack me!" Then he secretly summoned his son Shanzhou (today's Shan County, Heze City, Shandong Province). ) Governor Yang Chengzuo came to Qingzhou to discuss important matters.
Upon receiving his father's call, Yang Chengzuo announced that his mother was ill and wanted to go home for a visit, so he opened the city gate that night and rushed to Qingzhou overnight.
Jing Yanguang's approach was very unwise. Since the main contradiction (Khitan) was to be solved, he should focus on the big and let go of the small, and put aside the secondary issue (cutting down the vassal state) for the time being.
After Shi Chonggui came to the throne, he worshiped Grand Master Yang Guangyuan and conferred the title of King Shou as a sign of appeasement. Only by appeasing the domestic vassal forces headed by the "Big Three" could it be possible to concentrate on dealing with the Khitan. Jing Yanguang once again sabotaged Shi Chonggui's grand strategy without authorization.
Now that the incident has happened, Shi Chonggui had no choice but to do remedial work.
First, someone from the central government sent Yang Guangyuan generous gifts such as jade belts, royal horses, gold and silver silk and satin, and explained and comforted him to eliminate misunderstandings;
Secondly, people were sent from the central government to take over Shanzhou, and Guo Jin, commander-in-chief of the infantry of the Forbidden Army (Commander of the Infantry Guard), was sent to lead the army to Yunzhou.
Qingzhou is located in the middle of the Shandong Peninsula, surrounded by the sea on three sides. Only the west side can enter and exit the peninsula by land, while Yunzhou and Yanzhou are the gates to and from the Shandong Peninsula. Shi Chonggui immediately increased the military strength of Yunzhou, forming a "closed door to beat the dog" trend.
Yang Guangyuan sent cavalry to raid Lianzhou (now Zibo City, Shandong Province) and captured Zhai Jinzong, the governor of Lianzhou.
Shi Chonggui appointed Yang Chengzuo, the former governor of Shanzhou, as the governor of Lianzhou. Qianzhou is located between Qingzhou and Shanzhou, so the court's reason was to make it easier for Yang Chengzuo to go home to visit his sick mother, and to make his workplace closer to home as a sign of comfort. At the same time, the imperial court dispatched Cai Xingyu, a general of the Forbidden Army, to lead his army to reinforce Yunzhou.
The situation on the Shandong Peninsula suddenly became tense.
Today, Yang Guangyuan is based in Qingzhou and controls the central part of the peninsula. His son Yang Chengxun is the defense envoy of Laizhou (now Yantai City, Shandong Province) and controls the eastern part of the peninsula. His eldest son Yang Chengzuo is newly appointed as the governor of Lianzhou, guarding the west gate for Yang Guangyuan. The Yang family almost completed substantial control of the Shandong Peninsula.
At this moment, the imperial army began to gather in Yunzhou again. Under the sweet talk of the imperial court, the sky over the Shandong Peninsula was shrouded in clouds of war, and the vassal war was about to break out.
Yang Guangyuan would not sit still and wait for death. He made two efforts:
The first is to secretly contact the governors of various states in the Shandong Peninsula to carry out rebellion work.
Under normal circumstances, the power of the Jiedushi to appoint and remove personnel is strictly limited. In theory, the governors of the states within his jurisdiction should be appointed and dispatched by the central government. This formally prevents the Jiedushi from becoming too powerful in the local area. It was only during special periods, such as large-scale wars, that the court had to relax this control due to practical needs, which allowed the Jiedushi to overgrow the branches and form a separatist monopoly on the local area.
For example, during the "War between Sichuan" mentioned above, Xichuan Meng Zhixiang proposed to the court that he should appoint and remove the governors in the territory on his own. Like Meng Zhixiang, appointing and removing governors within the territory on their own initiative was a prelude to the armed separatism of Jiedushi.
When Shi Jingtang was in power, he was already wary of Yang Guangyuan. He first cut off his wings, sent his cronies to other places as governors, and then dumped him in Qingzhou. Although Yang Guangyuan was the governor of Pinglu Army in Qingzhou, he was not the governor of Qingzhou. The governor of the territory under the jurisdiction of Lu Jun was appointed by the imperial court.
Now, if Yang Guangyuan wants to cause trouble, he must first unite the internal affairs and send envoys to secretly contact the governors of the states within his jurisdiction and ask them to obey his leadership.
Among them, Li Qiong, the governor of Dizhou, resolutely refused to comply.
Dizhou is located in today's Binzhou City, Shandong Province. Its geographical location is very important and it is the "first island chain" of Qingzhou Pinglu Army. When we expand the map, we will find the importance of Dizhou, which has a low sense of existence:
With Qingzhou as the center and radiating outwards, from north to south, Dizhou and Qianzhou constitute the first line of defense of Qingzhou; the further outer layer is Cangzhou, Dezhou, Qizhou, Yunzhou, Yanzhou, and Yizhou; and further outward are Puzhou, Caozhou, Xuzhou, Suzhou.
