Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Luoyang Imperial City, Dongkuo City.

A carriage stopped on the side of the road, and seven or eight officials walked out of the waiting room.

"The Duke of Lu please come first!"

All the officials stopped in front of the car, waiting for Shi Yuangong to get on the car first.

Shi Yuangong was not polite, he just bowed his hand politely and stepped onto the carriage.

The rest of the officials did not sit in the car, but stood there waiting for the next one.

Shi Yuangong got off the bus in the imperial city and went straight to Chui Gong Hall without any guards blocking him along the way.

It wasn't until they arrived outside the Chui Gong Hall that a eunuch came up to him and asked Shi Yuangong to wait a moment and let him in to make an announcement.

Soon, the eunuch came back and said, "Duke Lu, please come inside."

Shi Yuangong is now the Deputy Privy Envoy, in charge of the intelligence system integrated into the Ministry of War. However, he can no longer intervene in intelligence operations and only obtains intelligence from the Ministry of War and summarizes and analyzes it.

Arriving at the palace, Shi Yuangong bowed and said, "My lord, Shi Yuangong, pays homage to Your Majesty!"

Ju Ming put down his brush: "Sit down. You come here in person, obviously there is important news."

Shi Yuangong sat down and said: "Li Qianshun, the leader of Xixia, died of illness, and Li Renxiao, who was fifteen years old, succeeded to the throne. Queen Ren of Xixia and Li Renxiao's mother, Cao, were appointed as the queen mothers of the two palaces."

"Which Ren family?" Ju Ming subconsciously felt something was wrong, "Didn't Li Qianshun not establish a queen?"

Shi Yuangong said: "More than two months before his death, Li Qianshun appointed Ren, who was only seventeen years old and had only been in the palace for eight months, as the Queen of Xixia without any warning."

Ju Ming asked: "What is Ren's father's name?"

Shi Yuangong said: "Ren Dejing."

Ju Ming couldn't laugh or cry.

He thought he had flapped his butterfly wings and had already killed Ren Dejing, but he didn't expect that this guy was still jumping around.

In the late Northern Song Dynasty, Ren Dejing was just a small prefecture judge on the border of Shaanxi. But he prospered in Xixia, and in the end he even forced the Xixia emperor to publicly promise that he would give half of the Xixia land to Ren Dejing to build the country!

Ju Ming asked: "Why hasn't the news about Ren Dejing been reported?"

Shi Yuangong was startled, then explained: "Before his daughter became the Queen of Xixia, Ren Dejing had always been inconspicuous. He was originally the general magistrate of Xi'an Prefecture in the former Song Dynasty. When the Jin soldiers went south, Xixia cooperated with the invasion of Shaanxi. Ren Dejing He ensnared the civil and military officials of Xi'an Prefecture and surrendered the city to Xixia together with his two brothers. Since then, he has been serving as a minor official in Xixia. There were more than one or two traitors in the former Song Dynasty. "

"Then why did his daughter suddenly become the queen?" Ju Ming asked.

Shi Yuangong said: "Bribery."

"Only by paying bribes?" Zhu Ming was surprised.

Shi Yuangong nodded: "It's just through bribery."

Ju Ming asked: "How can he have so much money?"

Shi Yuangong said: "When he surrendered to Xixia, he ransacked the homes of all the civil and military officials of Xi'an Prefecture in the former Song Dynasty, and swallowed up the entire Xi'an Prefecture's treasury and military resources. At that time, he bribed Brother Richard's generals, and from then on he set up with Li Cha As for Cha Ge, his two younger brothers have been living in the capital of Xixia for a long time. After he became an official in Xixia, he also embezzled a lot of money, and most of the money he embezzled was used for bribes."

Ju Ming sighed: "What a talent!"

Shi Yuangong said: "Xi Zuo has found out clearly. When Ren Dejing went to Xixia, his daughter was only five years old. She had been well-behaved and smart since she was a child. He personally taught his daughter piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and songs, and hired musicians and dancing girls to teach her. His daughter sang and danced, and he also asked her to recite Buddhist scriptures since she was a child. I am afraid that he has long thought of sending his daughter to the Xixia Palace."

"It is well thought out and the city is extremely deep." Ju Ming commented.

Shi Yuangong said: "Li Qianshun, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom, was in poor health before he became critically ill. Ren Dejing bribed the censor and eunuchs to encourage Li Qianshun to marry his concubine. After Ren entered the palace, he quickly won Li Qianshun's favor and stayed on his sick bed. Li Qianshun recited sutras, sang songs, danced and read poems to her. Li Qianshun liked everything. He also asked the imperial censor to make suggestions and conferred the title of queen on Li Qianshun. At that time, Li Qianshun was seriously ill and was in a coma. "

Less than a year after entering the palace, no children were born, and at the age of only seventeen, she was directly appointed as the queen!

You know, since the death of Yelu Nanxian, Li Qianshun has not established a queen for more than ten years.

Zhu Ming asked: "What is Ren Dejing's official position now?"

Shi Yuangong said: "When his daughter became a concubine, Ren Dejing was promoted to the defense envoy of Jingzhou. When his daughter was registered as a queen, Ren Dejing was promoted to the commander of the Jingzhou capital. Jingzhou is the southern gateway to the capital of Xixia. , this position is very important, and you can send troops to the Xixia capital at any time."

"After Li Qianshun died, because Li Renzhong objected to Brother Richard taking charge of the firearms camp, the two compromised and handed over the firearms camp to Ren Dejing. The firecrackers and artillery troops built by Li Qianshun are currently in the hands of Ren Dejing. I am already the deputy commander of the Sima Infantry Army in front of the Xixia Palace!"

Ju Ming asked again: "What other news?"

Shi Yuangong reported: "There is another spring drought in the northern part of Yanqing Prefecture this year. The grain collected there last year is enough for disaster relief this year. But if you want to invade Xixia, you must transfer more grain to Yanqing Prefecture."

"There's a spring drought in Yanqing Mansion, how about Xixia?" Zhu Ming asked.

Shi Yuangong said: "According to detailed investigation, both Yinzhou and Xiazhou in Xixia suffered from spring drought."

Ju Ming smiled and nodded: "It'll be fine if we work together."

If the above places are explained using the geographical concepts of later generations, they would be... the northern Shaanxi region!

Northern Shaanxi suffers from nine droughts in ten years, as evidenced by the jingle: There is a drought every year, a moderate drought occurs every two years, a severe drought occurs three years ago, and a catastrophic disaster occurs every ten years.

At this time, the vegetation environment in northern Shaanxi was slightly better than it would be a few hundred years later, but droughts still occurred frequently.

Before Xixia was officially founded, although the two sides were very unhappy, the Northern Song Dynasty court was still willing to provide food when Dangxiang asked for relief.

Until Xixia officially established its independence, the Northern Song Dynasty court strictly prevented food from flowing out, especially to the drought-stricken Xixia capital.

Of course you can’t prevent it!

Border generals in the Northern Song Dynasty often deducted food from soldiers and secretly sold the food to Xixia.

However, droughts occurred frequently in Xixia, and they often asked the Northern Song Dynasty for relief with a face, and also asked the Liao and Jin countries to allocate grain relief.

Ju Ming asked again: "After Li Qianshun died, what was the situation in Xixia?"

Shi Yuangong said: "The court is still stable and there are no fights. However, due to rampant corruption among Xixia officials and successive spring droughts in the border areas, the border tribes have complained. If it were in the former Song Dynasty, they could cross the border and plunder , but now it is the Ming Dynasty. Occasionally, Xixia tribes cross the border and are killed and wounded heavily by our Ming Dynasty border troops. Due to various factors, those Xixia border tribes can no longer survive. "

Ju Ming smiled even more happily.

Shi Yuangong continued: "Not only in the border areas, but also in Jingzhou and Dingzhou, the north and south gates of the capital of Xixia, the lives of various ministries have become increasingly difficult. Jingzhou and Dingzhou are both grain-producing areas. Officials are corrupt, the court imposes excessive taxes, and the lives of various ministries have become increasingly difficult. Taxes are getting heavier and heavier.”

Historically, tribes in Weizhou, Dingzhou, Jingzhou... were so poor that they rebelled, and they were all wiped out by Ren Dejing's troops.

Ju Ming said: "The Cabinet, Privy Council, Ministry of War, and Ministry of Household Affairs will discuss the matter of sending troops to Xixia."

…

The capital of the Western Xia Dynasty, Xingqing Mansion (Yinchuan).

Ren Dejing was very satisfied at this time. He was a serious Jinshi of the Northern Song Dynasty.

At that time, the competition was so fierce that it was very difficult for Jinshi to be admitted. Ren Dejing has been relying on bribes to get officials and promotions, but after draining his family's money, he only got one Xi'an Prefecture General Sentence.

Where is Xi'an Prefecture?

That is Xi'an Town, Haiyuan County in later generations, the front line of the Shaanxi border. You can meet Xixia people when you go out!

Sure enough, Jin soldiers and Zhu thieves besieged Kaifeng, and Xixia also took the opportunity to kill them.

When Ren Dejing saw the Xixia army outside the city, he immediately wanted to surrender the city. Because most of the army has gone to serve the king, there are not many soldiers left in the city. If they don't surrender, they can only stay in the city and wait to die.

He was afraid that the civil and military officials in the city would not agree, so he trapped and killed all his colleagues and took the opportunity to devour their property.

In the past twelve years, Ren Dejing has lived a very hard life in Xixia.

Most of the money he accumulated in the Northern Song Dynasty and the gold and silver he embezzled in Xixia were used for bribes. His life could be described as extremely poor.

Otherwise, how could he, a demoted official from the Song Dynasty, turn his daughter who had just entered the palace into a queen?

Now, her daughter has become not only a queen, but also one of the two queen mothers.

He also took advantage of the conflict between Li Renzhong and Brother Richard to please and lobby on both sides, and Ren Dejing successfully took control of the Xixia Firearms Force.

In Ren Dejing's eyes, the firearms unit is not used for fighting, but a hen that can lay golden eggs. Military expenditures are high. If he just picks up a few, he can get the money back quickly.

Moreover, Brother Richard is getting older. In the past two years, he no longer personally leads the troops to fight, but only stays in Xingqing Mansion to build mansions and enjoy himself.

Ren Dejing did not look down upon the old and degenerate Brother Richard.

He can pay bribes to please Numb, while slowly eroding Brother Richard's military power.

At the same time, Ren Dejing was a Jinshi of the Song Dynasty, and he could chat with Li Renzhong, the Prime Minister. He supported Li Renzhong in carrying out internal affairs reforms, so Li Renzhong supported him in taking charge of the firearms camp. Ren Dejing can even gain more power in the court through reforms.

The head of the civil service and the head of the military generals are all tools for Ren Dejing to seize power!

I was a Jinshi who came out of the Song Dynasty. Who are these barbarians from Xixia? Handle it easily.

This guy is crazy about what he does.

Historically, he forced the Xixia Emperor to give himself half of the land to establish the Chu Kingdom. This matter must be informed to the Kingdom of Jin. Since the Kingdom of Jin did not agree, Ren Dejing actually contacted the Southern Song Dynasty and joined the Southern Song Dynasty to attack the Kingdom of Jin!

For his own benefit, he will do anything.

Ren Dejing called his younger brother Ren Demin: "The new king who succeeds to the throne must go to the Ming Dynasty to apply for a title. I have recommended you to be the deputy envoy and go to Luoyang to find out the details of the Ming Dynasty."

Ren Demin asked: "What are you asking about?"

Ren Dejing said: "Let's find out if the Ming Dynasty has any signs of sending troops. Emperor Zhu is talented and has a great strategy. He is very likely to take the opportunity to send troops to Xixia. If the Ming Dynasty sends troops, Xixia will not be able to win. We should prepare early."

"Are you secretly seeking refuge with the Ming Dynasty?" Ren Demin asked.

Ren Dejing shook his head: "We finally climbed up and have not enjoyed the blessing for a few days. How can we easily surrender to the Ming Dynasty? If the Ming Dynasty sends troops, of course we must resist with all our strength. The best result is to cede the country in exchange for the Ming Dynasty to withdraw its troops. The land of Xixia will be cut off if it can be delayed by one day. Maybe it will be delayed until you and I are dead. Who cares about the floods after we die? "

Ren Demin nodded: "What brother said is absolutely true."

"But we must make preparations in advance," Ren Dejing said. "In case the Ming Dynasty is determined to attack Xixia, you and I brothers must also leave a way out in advance. This time you go to Luoyang, make friends with a few more ministers, and find out how to give Send the message carefully. Speak more kind words about your motherland in private. When the Ming army approaches Xingqing Mansion, it will be a matter of course for us to surrender. "

Ren De said sensitively: "Brother has a long-term vision."

Ren Dejing stroked his beard and smiled proudly. He certainly had a long-term vision and began to cultivate his daughter when she was a few years old. Her seductive skills made Li Qianshun dizzy.