Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

While Zhang Bor was speaking, the barbarians present finally became noisy.

Some of them howled angrily, some yelled, and took a few steps forward with weapons raised, trying to surround Ju Ming and others.

Zhang Bor, Li Bao and the Lizhou cavalry, including Li Jien, all made defensive gestures with their hands on their weapons.

Ju Ming turned around and asked Ju Meng, "Why, you can't afford to lose?"

When Ju Meng heard the translation, his expression became uncertain. After thinking about it over and over, he waved his hand and shouted: "Get back!"

The barbarians immediately retreated and glared at Zhang Bor.

Ju Ming smiled and asked: "How is my warrior?"

Ju Meng said: "Very strong."

A shield coupled with a short spear gives you an advantage in single combat.

If the martial arts of both sides were similar, the sword wielder would definitely lose. Zhang Boring won because of the disadvantage of weapons.

Ju Meng had to admit that the Han people armed with double swords were first-rate warriors.

He could rely on the large number of people to surround and kill Ju Ming and others.

But Ju Meng didn't dare. Although he was not yet born at the time, he heard his father repeatedly mention the battle seventy years ago and warned him not to go to the north to provoke the Han people.

His grandfather found the opportunity to kill his master and become independent just because the Han sent troops.

At that time, because of the plunder of Sichuan barbarians in Qiongbu, the magistrate who launched an army was called Sun Gu.

That was a character who had a special biography in the "History of the Song Dynasty". The Liao people invaded the Han territory, and the officials were too frightened to say anything. However, Sun Gu led people to check the boundary monuments and took back more than 200 miles of the Hebei border.

This monarch eventually became deputy prime minister and envoy of the Privy Council, and was granted the title of Duke of Shangzhu Kingdom and Anle County as a posthumous gift to the third division of Kaifu Yitong.

Sun Gu's crusade against the barbarians was not fierce, but it shocked the surrounding barbarians.

From then on, the barbarians in the south did not dare to cross the Dadu River again, and even if they robbed the Han people, they would do so secretly.

Similarly, Ju Ming never thought of killing Ju Meng on the spot.

Whether you can escape or not is another question, mainly because the gain outweighs the loss.

The Great Ghost Lord of the Hundred Barbarians is somewhat similar to a barbarian leader who combines politics and religion. Although his religious influence is not strong, he is still the religious leader of the barbarians.

Killing Ju Meng would allow his son to succeed him, and it would also arouse the common hatred among the barbarians.

We must lead troops to conquer and win on the battlefield in order to deter these barbarians!

Tonight's activities ended hastily. Ju Ming was arranged to rest in a bunker, and even a few female slaves were sent to serve him.

Ju Meng returned to his cage castle and called his sons to discuss the matter.

"Abba, if the Han people kill our warriors like this, it will affect your prestige if word spreads." The eldest son Ju Piaoli said.

Ju Meng said: "It is normal to die in a battle."

The second and third sons both died young. The fourth son Ju Afan said: "Abba, don't be frightened by the Han people. There are not many Han soldiers in Lizhou, so we might as well kill them across the river and occupy the Han people's city!"

"Yes, occupy Lizhou," Wu Ziju said eagerly, "Give the city, land and population to the fourth brother, and let the fourth brother establish a tribe in the north. Then go to conquer the five tribes of barbarians. By then, even if you encounter Dali The country is not afraid either!”

Ju Meng shook his head: "If you offend the Han people, you won't be able to do business in the future. You can't buy Han people's salt, you can't buy Han people's tea, you can't buy Han people's cloth, you can't buy Han people's iron pots."

From Ju Meng's words, we know that the deterrent power of the Song Dynasty has been seriously weakened.

He did not want to go to war with the Han people. In addition to fearing revenge from the Song Dynasty, he was also afraid that he would not be able to do business and obtain supplies in the future.

"Do we really want to return what we robbed?" Ju Piaoli asked unwillingly.

Ju Meng said: "Just give a few old and weak horses, a few skinny horses, and say that we only robbed these. If we ask the Han people to write a letter of apology and admit that we did something wrong, the Han officials in Lizhou will definitely no longer Investigate. After the grain is harvested in autumn, we will attack the two forest barbarians and occupy all the land in the north of the two forest barbarians."

This guy has great ambitions, it can also be said that Qiongbu has great ambitions.

The Qiong tribe was originally affiliated with the Wudeng tribe, but later it was equated with the Wudeng tribe. Now it is even said that the Wudeng tribe is affiliated with the Qiong tribe.

Anyway, Ju Meng actually controlled a population of 60,000 to 70,000, and more than 100,000 barbarians were nominally under his command. His ideal was to completely break away from the Song Dynasty and Dali and become the overlord of the region south of the Dadu River and north of the Jinsha River.

The two barbarians are his only obstacle and must be defeated completely!

A few days later, Ju Meng officially returned the looted property and population.

"Is that all?" Li Jien was furious.

Ju Meng said: "We only grabbed these. The rest of the population and livestock may have escaped into the mountains. If you want to find them back, just send people into the mountains yourself."

Li Jien looked at the old, weak, sick and disabled animals in front of him, as well as the sick and dying livestock, as well as the two skinny horses, and he didn't know how to refute at all.

Ju Meng insisted that this was all, what else could Li Jien do?

Ju Meng sent another letter of apology and handed it to Ju Ming with great respect: "I am a general conferred by the imperial court and should not block the road to trade. I already know my mistake. Please forward this letter to the magistrate. In order to apologize, , I also presented two good horses to Zhizhou. Someone, bring the horses over!"

Two mountain horses were led in front of Ju Ming. Although they were not tall, they were quite well-proportioned and should be very useful in fighting in mountainous areas.

Ju Ming accepted it with a smile, but he valued this person more in his heart.

There was no loophole in Ju Meng's approach, and even Ju Ming had no reason to send troops again.

Is this trip just an anticlimax?

Ju Ming felt that it could not be so simple. The Lianglin Barbarians still had some territory in the northeastern valley of the Qiongbu Sichuan Barbarians.

Ju Meng must not be able to resist and want to occupy those territories.

Taking two fine horses donated by the barbarians, Ju Ming set off back to Lizhou. This time there was no further delay, and we arrived in Zhoucheng in less than half a month.

"Ju Meng is a cunning man." Ju Ming handed over the confession letter.

Yu Wenchang read the letter and asked: "How many people and goods have been returned?"

Ju Ming said: "About nothing."

Yu Wenchang asked again: "What have you gained from this trip?"

Ju Ming said: "If the imperial court does not send troops to deter the barbarians, the barbarians in the south will definitely lose control. By the way, the envoys who requested the construction of cities and mutual trade were actually sent by Dali."

"Dali Kingdom really harbors evil intentions!" Yu Wenchang sneered.

But Ju Ming said: "I think Dali State really wants to do business, at least now it just wants to do business."

"Why?" Yu Wenchang asked.

Zhu Ming did not find out the specific information about the Dali Kingdom. He used the historical knowledge before traveling and said: "The Duan clan, the king of Dali, is in a situation like that of the Emperor of Zhou. He can only control a small amount of land around the capital. The Gao clan can depose the king and govern half of the Dali Kingdom. Above the territory, there are several other major surnames that are in charge of the rest of the territory. Their families are like the princes during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. As for the southern part of Dali Kingdom, they are actually all Jizu tribes."

Yu Wenchang was surprised and said: "Dali is actually in such a situation?"

The intelligence of the Song Dynasty court was so poor that even though it sent ministers to Dali last year to confer Duan Yu, they were still just watching the news and had no idea that Dali was controlled by powerful ministers.

Ju Ming said: "As a powerful minister, the Gao family bullies the ruler of the country and suppresses the princes. How dare to fight a big war with the outside world? It only takes one big defeat and the Gao family will be in danger. According to my guess, Dali's request to build a city and mutual trade may be It is not the Dali Kingdom that trades with each other, but the Gao family of the Dali Kingdom!"

Yu Wenchang asked: "How can we come to such a conclusion?"

Ju Ming said: "Dali has four counties, nine prefectures and thirty-six tribes. The current mutual trading areas are the four prefectures of Dali, which are controlled by princes of each surname. The Gao family controls nine prefectures, and one prefecture close to Guangnan is controlled by It is separated by four counties. Only the northernmost Jianchang Prefecture can trade directly with Lizhou. Once Lizhou builds a city and trades with each other, the profits from trade will definitely be monopolized by the Gao family. "

Yu Wenchang asked: "Sheng Chenggong, do you think we should agree?"

Zhu Ming shook his head: "We should agree, but we shouldn't build a city on the south bank of the Dadu River to trade with each other. If we trade with each other, we will build a city on the north bank of the Jinsha River!"

Yuwen Chang smiled and said: "Success is a good thing."

Ju Ming said: "This is not something that happens overnight. The most urgent task is to send out troops to deter the barbarians. Seventy years ago, Duke Sun Wenqing (Sun Gu) decided to fight in one battle, so the barbarians did not dare to move for decades. If we fight again A war can bring about decades of border stability."

Yu Wenchang began to seriously consider that he was unwilling to send troops before because he lacked information and was afraid of provoking Dali.

Yu Wenchang asked: "How confident are you of sending troops?"

Ju Ming did not answer directly, but analyzed in detail: "The barbarians in the south are extremely scattered among themselves due to terrain reasons. As long as the officers and soldiers are caught by surprise, they can quickly reach the front of the mountain (Ganluo County), and the Qiongbu Sichuan barbarians have no time to gather. Soldiers. In the valley in front of the mountain, there is a village at the intersection of two rivers, which was the former residence of the great ghost lord of Lianglin. The terrain there is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Lizhou army can gather in the village to defend and confront the army gathered by Ju Meng."

"Then what?" Yu Wenchang asked.

Ju Ming said: "There are many conflicts among the various tribes of barbarians. Ju Meng can gather tens of thousands of troops and can solve them by attacking people's hearts. There is no need to use any conspiracy, just plot and alienate. Write a letter to Ju Meng's brothers and promise who will join the officers and soldiers first. , after killing Ju Meng, he canonized him as the Great Ghost Lord of the Hundred Barbarians. Then he wrote letters to the ghost leaders of other tribes, promising to grant them the land of the Qiongbu Sichuan Barbarians."

Yu Wenchang clapped his hands and praised: "In this way, even if the barbarians see through the estrangement scheme, they will still be on guard against each other. When there is a real war, they will definitely preserve their own strength and will not sacrifice their lives for Ju Meng wholeheartedly."

Ju Ming added: "We also need to order the five barbarians north of the Dadu River to send troops. If they are willing to send troops, it is better. If they are unwilling to send troops, they will give up the excuse and go back to conquer the five barbarians!"

"It's feasible." Yu Wenchang nodded.

Ju Ming continued: "We need to recruit more soldiers for training, and declare to the outside world that we are going to conquer the Xuhen tribe in the southeast. Firstly, it can paralyze the Sichuan barbarians of Qiongbu, and secondly, it can panic the Xuhen tribe. When the time comes to send out troops, order With the cooperation of the Xuhen Department, we can only get a few hundred barbarians."

Yu Wenchang carefully observed the simple map drawn by Ju Ming, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt that it could be played.

Moreover, Ju Ming's plan included all the barbarians on both sides of the Dadu River. There are conspiracies and conspiracies, and they are elusive, and they are guaranteed to play tricks on the barbarians.

"Send troops after the autumn harvest!" Yuwen Chang said.

Ju Ming asked: "How to solve the problem of the power to mobilize troops?"

Yu Wenchang said: "Write a memorial to the court in advance and report it in detail afterwards. As long as the battle is not defeated, the court will not pursue it. Moreover, you and I have merit and innocence."

In the Song Dynasty, when local officials mobilized troops without authorization, the system was very strict and easy to operate.

Applying for the deployment of troops in advance can alleviate the crime of sending troops without authorization as long as the letter is sent. A detailed report afterwards can alleviate the guilt.

With these two procedures, once the battle is won, nothing will be pursued.

Of course, if you lose the battle, you will inevitably add more sins to your sins, and all accounts must be settled clearly.