Xianxia version of Water Margin

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After Wanyan Wuqimai passed away, a power game quietly played out among the high-level officials of the Jin Dynasty.

It can be said that Wanyan Wuqimai's sudden death was like a huge stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring up ripples.

In this vortex of power, Wanyan Zonghan, Wanyan Zonggan, Wanyan Zongpan and other members of the Jin Dynasty's royal family, clan and nobles, each had different thoughts and calculations.

Wanyan Zonggan, who first learned of the news of Wanyan Wuqimai's death, kept the news of Wanyan Wuqimai's death secret, and even Wanyan Wuqimai's sons did not know about it.

It was not until Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongfu led their army to Shangjing Huining Prefecture and surrounded the capital that Wanyan Zonggan announced the truth about Wanyan Wuqimai's death and announced that Wanyan Tan, the eldest grandson of Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda, who was actually raised by Wanyan Zonggan, would ascend the throne as the new monarch.

——Wanyan Tan’s biological father was Wanyan Aguda’s eldest son Wanyan Zongjun, and Wanyan Zonggan, as Wanyan Aguda’s eldest son, had deep feelings and responsibilities for Wanyan Tan.

Wanyan Zonggan did this for only one purpose, that is, not to let Wanyan Wuqimai’s eldest son Wanyan Zongpan inherit the throne, but to let his adopted son Wanyan Tan inherit the throne.

As for the reason?

It’s very simple.

Although Wanyan Tan was not Wanyan Zonggan’s biological son, he was raised by him after all, so he must be closer to him.

The key is that Wanyan Tan, no matter what, represents the political power of their Jin Taizu line, while Wanyan Zongpan represents the political power of Jin Taizong’s faction. Wanyan Zonggan clearly distinguishes who is close and who is distant.

More importantly, Wanyan Tan is very young and does not have much political foundation. His succession to the throne is equivalent to Wanyan Zonggan holding the highest power of the Jin Kingdom.

But Wanyan Zongpan is different.

After all, Wanyan Wuqimai had been the emperor for several years.

Now that Wanyan Wuqimai is dead, Wanyan Zongpan has undoubtedly inherited all of Wanyan Wuqimai's political power.

To put it bluntly, if Wanyan Zongpan ascends the throne now, Wanyan Zonggan may lose power.

This is a very standard political struggle.

Wanyan Zonggan is a cunning fox.

No.

Wanyan Zonggan is a jackal who is well versed in political struggles.

Therefore, Wanyan Zonggan decisively concealed the news of Wanyan Wuqimai's death, and before Wanyan Wuqimai died, he notified Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongfu, who had a large number of troops, to bring their troops to "attend the funeral".

But then again.

Although Wanyan Zonggan got the upper hand.

But the balance of power did not completely tilt towards Wanyan Zonggan.

Wanyan Zongpan, who was also eyeing the throne, was not an easy character to deal with.

As early as when Wanyan Wuqimai was alive, Wanyan Zongpan had been promoted by Wanyan Wuqimai to be the national minister, Hulubojire, in charge of the core military force of the Jin Dynasty, that is, the military force in Wanyan Wuqimai's hands, which can also be called the "central army" of the Jin Dynasty.

Moreover, Wanyan Zongpan has Wanyan Zongjun and Wanyan Chang, who hold heavy troops, as his backing.

This makes Wanyan Zongpan's strength not to be underestimated.

The two factions confronted each other in Shangjing Huining Prefecture, as if a storm was coming.

At the critical moment, Wanyan Zongpan showed his political wisdom and spirit of compromise.

He took the initiative to find Wanyan Zonggan and Wanyan Zongfu, expressing his willingness to respect Wanyan Wuqimai's last wish and support Wanyan Tan's enthronement.

But at the same time, he also put forward a condition: he hopes to join forces with Wanyan Zonggan and Wanyan Zongfu to deal with Wanyan Zonghan together.

In the feudal dynasties of China, the emperor was the most powerful person. As the saying goes, all land under heaven belongs to the emperor, and all people are his subjects. As long as it is within the emperor's territory, people should cheer for him and things should be used by the emperor first.

As for the emperor, of course he must be heavily protected, which is definitely more comprehensive than the protection of the heads of state of various countries in Jiang Hongfei's previous life.

It can even be said that if a hair on the emperor is lost, someone will have to lose his head.

This is how the so-called body worth ten thousand gold came about.

In everyone's impression, the emperor's body must not be touched, because the emperor's body is not the emperor's own, but the whole country's, so of course it must be carefully protected.

But there are always exceptions.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, the country's strength was still very weak, and the royal family members did not even have a decent residence, so Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda made a vow: the state's finances should be kept simple, and no extravagance and corruption should be avoided. The materials in the treasury must not be used unless there is a war. Those who violate the rules will be dragged out and beaten with twenty sticks in the court.

This punishment was written into the royal precepts, and no descendants dared to violate it.

After Wanyan Wuqimai succeeded to the throne, although the strength of the Jin Dynasty was better than that of Taizu, it still could not withstand the arrogance and debauchery.

Wanyan Wuqimai knew that the country was weak, and he was frugal at first. He lived in a mud house with a tile courtyard and wore coarse linen clothes.

But it didn't matter, there was only one thing he couldn't stand, that is, he couldn't live without wine.

At that time, wine was also a resource urgently needed by the Jin Dynasty. It was included in the war reserve materials and locked in the treasury.

One day, Wanyan Wuqimai's alcohol addiction came up, so he sneaked into the treasury and drank some wine.

As a result, this matter was discovered.

Wanyan Zonghan took the opportunity to bring out the "ancestral precepts" established by Wanyan Aguda, and beat Wanyan Wuqimai's buttocks in public, and the beating was so horrible that the skin was torn and the flesh was torn.

The reason why Wanyan Zonghan insisted on spanking Wanyan Wuqimai for such a small matter was that he wanted to kill Wanyan Wuqimai's prestige, curb Wanyan Wuqimai's reforms, and make Wanyan Wuqimai fear the Jin nobles headed by him.

Afterwards, Wanyan Zonghan helped Wanyan Wuqimai back to the throne and sincerely admitted his mistakes.

But Wanyan Zonghan's prestige had been established, and Wanyan Wuqimai became the first and only emperor in Chinese feudal history to be spanked in public by his subjects.

It can even be said that those puppet emperors had never suffered such a great humiliation.

For the royal family and clan of the Jin Dynasty, this board was not hit on Wanyan Wuqimai's buttocks, but on their faces.

As the eldest son of Wanyan Wuqimai, it was reasonable for Wanyan Zongpan to avenge his father.

Wanyan Zonghan's arrogance and domineering behavior in those days had already made the royal family and clan members of the Jin Dynasty dissatisfied.

In addition, over the years, Wanyan Zonghan has been relying on his own great achievements and strong strength to be arrogant and domineering, and he does not take the royal family and clan members of the Jin Dynasty into consideration.

The key is that Wanyan Zonghan's military power is too strong now. He alone controls almost one-third of the military power of the Jin Dynasty. If they do not take the opportunity to overthrow Wanyan Zonghan, Wanyan Zonggan and Wanyan Zongfu will not feel at ease.

The key is that Wanyan Zonghan's purpose of bringing troops back this time must be to hold the emperor hostage to let the princes control the government.

Don't forget, it was Wanyan Zonghan who first proposed to establish Wanyan Tan as the crown prince.

In other words, Wanyan Zonghan has the greatest merit in supporting the throne.

If Wanyan Zonghan really controlled Wanyan Tan, all the royal and clan members of the Jin Dynasty, regardless of whether they were from the line of Jin Taizu or Jin Taizong, would have to be under Wanyan Zonghan, and even have to act according to Wanyan Zonghan's mood.

More importantly, in terms of blood relationship, whether it was Wanyan Aguda's sons Wanyan Zonggan, Wanyan Zongfu, Wanyan Zongjun, or Wanyan Wuqimai's son Wanyan Zongpan, even Wanyan Chang, their blood relationship was closer than Wanyan Zonghan, so of course they were unwilling to be controlled by Wanyan Zonghan, an "outsider".

So, a conspiracy against Wanyan Zonghan quietly unfolded.

Soon, Wanyan Zonggan, Wanyan Zongfu, Wanyan Zongpan, Wanyan Zongjun, Wanyan Chang and others joined forces to set a trap by taking advantage of Wanyan Zonghan's eagerness to fight for power.

Specifically, they deliberately spread rumors to lure Wanyan Zonghan to go deep into the city alone. When Wanyan Zonghan led tens of thousands of troops to Shangjing City, Wanyan Zongfu and Wanyan Zongpan led hundreds of thousands of troops to surround Wanyan Zonghan's troops.

It must be said that Wanyan Zonghan was careless. In order to rush to fight for power, the number of troops he brought this time was too small. Otherwise, even if Wanyan Zonggan, Wanyan Zongfu, Wanyan Zongpan, Wanyan Zongjun, Wanyan Chang and others joined forces to fight against Wanyan Zonghan, they might not be able to gain the upper hand.

Under the joint attack of the royal family and clan of the Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Zonghan quickly lost the ability to resist. The military power in his hands was deprived one by one. He, who was once powerful, could only watch himself being sidelined step by step.

Soon, although Wanyan Zonghan retained the empty positions of Taibao, Shangshuling and other honorary positions and was named King of Jin, he had actually lost his military power and was completely marginalized, and his influence was much less than before.

With the defeat of Wanyan Zonghan, the Jin Dynasty ushered in a new era.

Wanyan Tan successfully ascended the throne and became Jin Xizong with the support of the royal family and clan of the Jin Dynasty.

After Wanyan Tan ascended the throne, under the advocacy of Wanyan Zonggan, he quickly carried out drastic reforms in the Jin Dynasty.

Wanyan Zonggan, Wanyan Zongfu, Wanyan Zongpan and others took the opportunity to consolidate their positions and further grasp the real power of the court.

However, this power struggle did not completely subside with the ascension of Wanyan Tan.

On the contrary, it continued to ferment inside the Jin Dynasty like a deeply buried bomb.

The grievances and power struggles between the royal family and clan of the Jin Dynasty continued to surge in secret.

Soon, with the support of Wanyan Zonggan, Wanyan Zongbing, also known as Jin Wushu, inherited Wanyan Zonghan's army.

In return, Jin Wushu supported the reforms of Wanyan Zonggan and Wanyan Tan.

Soon after, Wanyan Tan announced that the Bogile system that the Jin Dynasty had been implementing was abolished, and the three-province system was adopted to strengthen central power;

Wanyan Zonghan, who had previously vigorously developed his strength in the Liaoxi region and could even compete with the Jin Dynasty court, and Wanyan Zonghan's confidants all lost their military power and were transferred to the central government and completely sidelined;

Wanyan Zongpan, Wanyan Zongjun, Wanyan Chang and other peace advocates, and Wanyan Zonggan, Wanyan Zongfu, Wanyan Zongbi and other war advocates, intrigue and fight openly and secretly to seize power;

Wanyan Xieye, Wanyan Loushi, Wanyan Wulu and other old generation Jin Dynasty generals who were really capable of fighting died one after another, and capable Jin Dynasty generals and ministers such as Wanyan Yinshuke and Han Qixian were transferred to the central government to be promoted in public but demoted in private.

In the vortex of power in the Jin Dynasty, the struggle between the noble factions intensified, so that even the imperial capital of Shangjing Huining Prefecture was shrouded in tension and martial law. This storm almost cut off all news from the outside world, so that Jiang Hongfei failed to learn of Wanyan Wuqimai's sudden death in time.

However, Jiang Hongfei's intelligence network, which cost a lot of money every year, was not in vain. In the end, the news of the dramatic changes in the Jin Dynasty was quietly delivered to him on the eve of the lifting of the blockade of Shangjing when a compromise was reached among the Jin nobles.

Faced with this information, which was undoubtedly a godsend for the Yuan Empire, Jiang Hongfei quickly summoned the important officials in the court - Wang Lun, Chen Ke, Wu Yong, Gongsun Sheng, Qiao Daoqing, Li Zhu, Li Gang, Chen Xizhen, Chai Jin, Zhao Ding, Zhang Bangchang, Chen Kangbo, Liu Yanzong, Shi Li'ai, Li Guang, Chen Gongfu and Yelu Dashi, and launched a fierce strategic discussion in the imperial study.

At the same time, Jiang Hongfei also sent messages to Xu Guanzhong, Zhu Wu, Xiao Jiasui, Wen Huanzhang, Li Jun, Le He, Lu Jiang and others who were guarding one side to let them express their opinions.

Let alone Xu Guanzhong and others who were out of reach.

At this time, in the upper study, the air was filled with tension and expectation, and everyone knew how this decision would profoundly affect the future of the Yuan Dynasty.

Liu Yanzong and Shi Li'ai, the two Han officials of the Liao Kingdom, took the lead in proposing the radical proposition of tearing up the peace treaty and annihilating the enemy in one fell swoop while the Jin Dynasty was in civil strife to eliminate future troubles.

This view quickly gained the resonance of Wu Yong, Chen Ke, Chen Xizhen, Li Gang, Zhao Ding, Chen Kangbo and Yelu Dashi. They believed that the aggressive nature of the Jin people was difficult to change, and only by taking the initiative to attack could peace be maintained forever.

However, on the other side, Wang Lun, Chai Jin, Zhang Bangchang, Li Guang and Chen Gongfu held opposing views.

They believed that the Yuan Dynasty had gone through many hardships to achieve today's peace. If they easily abandoned the peace treaty, they would not only lose morality, but also repeat the mistakes of the Song Dynasty and lose the big because of the small.

——Their worries were not unfounded. After all, in history, the Zhao Song Dynasty tore up the "Tanyuan Alliance", which did not bring long-term peace, but instead caused more disputes.

Gongsun Sheng, Qiao Daoqing, Li Zhu and others did not express their opinions.

Faced with such fierce controversy, Jiang Hongfei did not play it safe. Instead, after carefully listening to the opinions of all parties, he showed extraordinary decisiveness and resolutely decided to prepare for war against the Jin Kingdom.

In Jiang Hongfei's view, the greed and bellicosity of the Jin people will sooner or later become a major concern for the Yuan Empire.

Now, the division of the Jin Dynasty's top leaders is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Jiang Hongfei firmly believes that if the Yuan Empire does not take advantage of the Jin Dynasty's illness to kill the Jin Dynasty, the Yuan Empire will face a fierce attack from the Jin Dynasty after the Jin Dynasty recovers.

Jiang Hongfei is not making random guesses without a purpose.

You must know that in history, the Jin Dynasty has almost always been invading foreign countries since its establishment until it was finally destroyed by Mongolia and the Southern Song Dynasty. Especially when its internal regime was unstable, it relied on launching wars to force the Jin Dynasty to be unified.

The top leaders of the Jin Dynasty, or even the entire Jin society, have begun to split. If Wanyan Dan wants to sit firmly on his throne, he must transfer internal contradictions to external contradictions. The final result is likely to be that if the Yuan Empire does not attack the Jin Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty will definitely attack the Yuan Empire.

In addition, after years of recuperation, the national strength of the Yuan Empire is no longer comparable to the past.

Today, the army of the Yuan Empire is strong and the generals are in their prime. It is a good time to march north.

More importantly, Jiang Hongfei, who is over 40 years old, knows that time is not forgiving. He longs to witness the glory of the Yuan Dynasty and surpass the prosperity of the Han and Tang Dynasties in his lifetime.

In addition, Jiang Hongfei knows that if he leaves the problems on the grassland to future generations, it is difficult to guarantee that they will have enough courage and wisdom to deal with them.

Therefore, Jiang Hongfei is determined to solve this problem while he can still control the overall situation.

So Jiang Hongfei quickly deployed, on the one hand secretly mobilized troops to the northern border to strengthen defense; on the other hand, he stepped up the preparation of strategic materials to ensure the needs of wartime.

It is worth mentioning that Jiang Hongfei had foreseen the arrival of this day and has maintained a high state of combat readiness for many years. Both the elite divisions in the north and the standing army in the south are ready to fight at any time. In addition, each military region has also stored sufficient food and strategic materials to support a protracted war.

However, Jiang Hongfei did not take it lightly.

Jiang Hongfei knew that although the Jin people were in chaos, they still had fighting power. Therefore, he dared to despise the enemy strategically, but was extremely cautious in tactics.

Jiang Hongfei ordered all relevant departments to take immediate action and complete the pre-war preparations quickly and secretly.

Under the careful leadership of Jiang Hongfei and the planning of a group of ministers in charge of war, the Yuan Empire was striding forward step by step towards the great goal of destroying the Jin Dynasty...

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