Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Xiangyang, meeting at the Generalissimo's Mansion.

Ju Ming took out the secret letter he had just sent and said to everyone: "The Kingdom of Jin moved Nanjing to Pingzhou."

This news is extremely important. Pingzhou is the area of ​​Lulongsai, and Song Huizong originally planned to spend money to redeem it. The Jin people moved their Nanjing all the way from Liaoyang to Pingzhou. It is self-evident what that means.

The frontier has been turned into a capital city in order to fight the outside world!

Wang Zhen guessed: "Within one or two years, the Jin people will definitely go south."

Zhang Bor also said: "Although I have never been to Pingzhou, I know from historical books that transportation from Lulong to Liaodong has been difficult since ancient times. The Jin people set up Nanjing there, so a large number of nobles and officials had to move their families. . And Pingzhou has suffered from famine for many years. Food must be transported from eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning, and no one knows how much food and grass will be lost along the way. If it were not to send troops south, I really can't think of why the Jin people did this."

Wang Yuan said: "The Western Army has been severely defeated in recent years. If the Jin people go south, it will be difficult to stop them."

"The Forbidden Army can't stop it." Wang Zhen himself is a senior member of the Forbidden Army.

Zhang Boring said: "It just depends on whether the Jin people go south this time to occupy the land of Youyun, or whether they want to fight all the way to Kaifeng."

Wang Zhen said: "Youyun is poor and has many famines. The Jin people are not interested in it, otherwise they would not sell Yanjing to the Song Dynasty. Once the Jin people go south, they will definitely head towards Kaifeng. Now it is time to decide what our army will do It’s time to send troops.”

Zhu Ming finally spoke: "You can't go too early, otherwise the officers and soldiers will be attracted to our side to fight. You can't go too late, otherwise the Jin soldiers will most likely have retreated. You must always pay attention to the movements of the Jin people, and wait for the Jin soldiers to fight." When the troops approach the Yellow River, it is time for us to send out troops. The troops are divided into two routes. The east route goes north from Nanyang and goes straight to the border of Henan. The west route goes north from Hanzhong, occupying the state capital along the way. The two armies will finally meet in Kaifeng!"

"In this way, the world will be settled," Zhang Bor said happily. "The generalissimo has the ability to drive out foreigners, so he can take advantage of the situation to seize Tokyo and force the foolish king to abdicate in favor of someone more worthy."

The shogunate officials under Ju Ming were able to deduce so many things based on the news that the Jin people had changed Nanjing. How could the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty not know about it?

of course I know!

The Song Dynasty court frantically exploited the people, and finally scraped together 500,000 shi of food, which they quickly shipped to Yanjing for military training.

These grains were originally allocated by the prefect. It was up to the prefect to decide how much to use for the people and how much to use for the military. Most of it went into Yaoshi Guo's pocket, and the surrendered general withheld the food.

Pharmacist Guo immediately recruited troops and expanded the victorious army to more than 50,000 people, and began to become arrogant and domineering.

The so-called arrogant and domineering Wang Anzhong, the prefect of Yanshan, has completely become a decoration. Regardless of the military and political orders, they all came from the hands of Pharmacist Guo, and the civil officials and prefects had to step aside.

In addition, the predecessor of the Ever Victorious Army, the Resentment Army, was originally composed of defeated soldiers and refugees. Now after the expansion, the army is even more mixed, and the military discipline is not even as good as the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty. They harass the people in the city and the countryside all day long, which makes it impossible for the civil servants headed by Wang Anzhong to govern.

Wang Anzhong came to impeachment from time to time, comparing Guo Pharmacist to An Lushan.

Tong Guan knew that the situation was very difficult, so he called Ma Kuo to ask for advice: "The Ever Victorious Army is becoming increasingly threatened. How to stabilize the situation?"

Ma Kuo knew the affairs in the north well and replied: "Since Guo Pharmacist surrendered to the Liao Kingdom, once he gained power, he would definitely suppress the civil servants. This was common in the Liao Kingdom. However, the Jin people did not dare to go south immediately because they were afraid of Guo Pharmacist. The ever-victorious army. If the imperial court is too harsh on Medicine Master Guo, he may defect to the Kingdom of Jin. He must be appeased and used. Just appeasement is not enough, and he should be used in combination with intimidation and appeasement."

"How to intimidate and use it at the same time?" Tong Guan asked.

Ma Kuo explained: "In Shaanxi, Hedong, and Hebei, select 100,000 elite horse and infantry troops. Choose wise and courageous generals to lead the troops. Some of them will be stationed in Yanshan to supervise and balance Guo Pharmacist. But you cannot transfer all 100,000 soldiers and horses, otherwise Guo Guo will The pharmacist will rebel immediately. There are two troops left, one stationed in Guangxin Army or Zhongshan Prefecture, and one stationed in Xiongzhou or Hejian Prefecture. This kind of dog-to-nail control can not only deter Guo Pharmacist, but also prevent the Jin people from going south. "

"This plan is great!"

Tong Guan immediately agreed and gave a high evaluation, but he was confused: "But where should our family find 100,000 elite soldiers and horses? Although the plan is clever, it is not easy to implement. Let me think about it again."

Tong Guan really had no choice. He knew that Yaoshi Guo was arrogant and domineering and might betray the Song Dynasty and join the Jin Dynasty at any time. He also knew that most of the Jin people would go south.

But he has no usable soldiers!

Tong Guan had no choice but to report the situation to Song Huizong, and then went to Taiyuan in person to appease the soldiers there, and then went to Yanjing to reward the victorious army.

He set up four general managers in Hebei, with Xin Xingzong as the general manager of Zhongshan, Wang Yuan as the general manager of Zhending, Yang Weizhong as the general manager of Hezhong, and Wang Yu as the general manager of Daming.

However, these four men had no soldiers and had to recruit them locally.

The imperial court only allocated part of the food and grass, and the remaining food and grass had to be dealt with by the Fourth Road General Manager. They also transported some low-quality soldiers and armor, mainly easily damaged paper armor, and recruited a large number of deserters, refugees, and gangsters as soldiers. This four-pronged army was used to check and balance Guo Yaoshi, and also to prevent the Jin soldiers from going south.

This is tantamount to adopting Ma Kuo's strategy, but due to lack of food and soldiers, the implementation was completely distorted.

Tong Guan made great achievements in suppressing bandits in Shandong, and now he personally deployed the northern defense line, finally gaining the favor of Song Huizong again. And he fulfilled his promise to be crowned king after regaining Yanyun. When Tong Guan came back from Yanjing, he was immediately canonized as Prince of Guangyang by Song Huizong.

As for Cai You's official position, he was inferior to Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan, and Song Huizong also felt sorry. So for his achievements in helping to recover Yanyun, Cai You was given the title of Taibao and the title of British Duke.

Now it is Cai Youquan's turn to dominate the government and the opposition. Although he is not the prime minister, his followers are all over the court and inside.

Many officials left behind by Cai Jing and Wang Fu took refuge under Cai You. The prime minister on the left, Bai Shizhong, and the prime minister on the right, Li Bangyan, were unable to influence the government affairs and became rubber stamps for official documents.

"Child Cai You, you bullied me too much!"

Bai Shizhong's temper has increased a lot, and he has learned how to throw things: "We agreed to overthrow Cai Jing and let me take charge. But now the decrees I have issued cannot leave the inner city of Tokyo, and the people are laughing at me for Clay sculpture Dazai!"

Li Bangyan sighed: "Although you and I are favored by the officials, it is a pity that our foundation is too shallow. Most of the provincial ministers are descendants of the Cai family. These people will definitely be more willing to join Cai You."

"It's better to keep Cai Jing!" Bai Shizhong said angrily.

Li Bangyan became more and more angry, with a ferocious smile on his face. He has always been hedging his bets, but now he is leaning more towards Ju Ming.

Although Li Bangyan knew very well that after Ju Ming conquered the world, he would not be able to hold a high position, but he felt relieved by doing this. Moreover, the current situation is precarious, and the broken ship of the Song Dynasty will capsize sooner or later. It is time to seriously choose a good ship.

What is Cai You doing?

Doing business!

Now that he is in control of the court, the first thing he does is to reduce or reduce the local tribute from various states and release his intention to implement benevolent government.

Then he appointed talented people to gain prestige.

For example, someone recommended Nie Shan. Cai You also heard that this man was a wise man, so he immediately called him back from Jiangxi to investigate for himself.

Cai You was very satisfied with this person and appointed Nie Shan as the governor of Yunzhong. Because once the Jin people go south, they will definitely divide their troops and go to Yunzhong, so Nie Shan is very responsible for his violent actions.

Nie Shan passed the imperial examination at the age of fourteen and was awarded Jinshi status after graduating from Taixue University. He was known for his toughness both as a person and as an official.

Historically, it was he who sent a killer to kill Wang Fu who had resigned from office and returned home. During the Jingkang period, he advocated resistance to the Jin Dynasty, but was sent by Song Qinzong to negotiate peace. He failed to make contact with the Jin people. He immediately went to Hebei to mobilize troops and troops, but King Qin was brutally killed by the Jiangzhou guard who dug out his eyes.

In the eyes of the world, Nie Shan at this time is just like Ju Ming before the rebellion, and they are both upright and fierce officials.

Cai You's emphasis on Nie Shan and his implementation of "benevolent government" immediately won praise from officials at home and abroad. It seems that as long as he corrects himself in the future and manages the country well, all the bad things he did in the past will disappear.

It can be seen that people in the world today have low requirements for those in power. It seems that they have put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha immediately.

Yanjing, Yunzhong, Zhongshan, Hebei... all places have made corresponding arrangements. It is obvious that the Song Dynasty court was really afraid. They were by no means ignorant of the Jin's march south, but they knew it better than anyone else and tried their best to develop defensive strategies.

In this matter, Tong Guan and Cai You cannot be faulted.

But they never expected that the Jin soldiers would not be able to attack the cities along the way, so they would go around the city and go straight to Tokyo, without fear of being blocked on the food route and the way back. Just like the German army during World War II, the Jin soldiers on the East Route also bypassed the strong city and rushed to the capital of the Song Dynasty in a lightning attack.

…

Cai You's "benevolent government" to gain fame could only win the temporary favor of officials all over the world.

Everyone was waiting for the next step, but Cai You had no follow-up, which quickly disappointed the officials and scholars.

On the other hand, over in the Kingdom of Jin, the Emperor of the Kingdom of Jin issued an edict strictly prohibiting nobles and wealthy households from purchasing common people as slaves. Those who force people into slavery shall be fined fifteen times the purchase price; those who deceive people into slavery shall be fined twice the purchase price and be punished with a hundred rods. At the same time, grain and grass were once again allocated to help the hungry people in Liaodong.

Of course, this kind of edict has little effect, and it is not about showing mercy to the people. It is purely to prevent powerful people from annexing the population.

The people who could not afford to eat were actually willing to be slaves and did not appreciate the policies of the Jin emperor.

The beans of the second season of land reclamation this year are being harvested. Ju Ming led more than a hundred guards on horseback to inspect various places, and he also went to inspect various garrison units.

He first went to Dengcheng to summon the Wei family there.

There are no farmers reclaiming wasteland around Xiangyang City, and overall it has been developing.

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, he had been farming in Xiangyang for twenty years, and the government received a land tax of 300,000 shi. Then the farming business collapsed. Because corruption was too serious, the farming industry had to be abandoned and allowed the people to cultivate freely. Today's development is similar to that around Hanzhong Fucheng.

Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the population of Xiangzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty had increased by one-sixth.

"I've seen the Generalissimo!" Wei Tai bowed his hands.

Zhu Ming personally supported him: "The old gentleman has great merits, so there is no need to be so formal."

When the gentry in Dengcheng saw this, they were filled with envy. This annoying old man was actually so loved by the generalissimo.

They still don’t know that the Wei family was once Ju Ming’s spy station.

With Zhang Jinping acting as matchmaker, the granddaughter of the Wei family is now married to Chen Ziyi, and is even more closely bound to the Generalissimo's Mansion.

Wei Tai smiled and said, "Please, Generalissimo."