Chapter 629 0624 [Internal Division of Jin]

Even though the Jin Kingdom did not win the Southern Expedition, as in history, after the death of Chi Duhe (Ashebo Jilie), its regime was essentially divided into three.

Emperor Wu begged for money and was further ignored!

The three imperial courts of the Jin Kingdom were -

The inner court, located near Harbin, was headed by Wanyan Xieye and Wanyan Zongqian's uncle and nephew.

The leader of the Eastern Court, the Privy Council of Yanshan (Beijing), was Wanyan Zongwang.

The leader of the Western Court, namely the Yunzhong (Datong) Privy Council, was Wanyan Zonghan.

Because Wanyan Zonghan was too powerful, the Inner Court and the Eastern Court were strong allies, and the three parties were in a delicate balance.

Wu Qimai sometimes struggled and sometimes lay flat, and his life was not bad. After all, the inner court still had to issue decrees in the name of his emperor.

Who put him in an unfair position?

Before the Jurchen rebellion, the leaders of each tribe were called "Bo Jin". Along with the conquests and mergers, the joint leader of several tribes was called "Du Bo Jin".

After Aguda became powerful, in order to show his authority, he named himself "Du Bo Ji Lie". He also came up with a bunch of titles such as Guolun Bojilie, Zhuban Bojilie, Amaibaojilie, etc.

The highest authority of the Jin Kingdom became the "Bojilie Congress", which can be understood as the meeting of noble ministers for discussion.

Although Aguda has not determined his successor, according to the Bojilie ranking at that time and the Jurchen tribe's tradition, Wanyan Zonghan should succeed to the throne of emperor.

But Wu Qimai took advantage of the absence of Wanyan Zonghan and the absence of three of Wu Dabo Jilie, and relied on the ancestral nobles to force the yellow robe on him.

Eaters have a short mouth and take advantage of others with soft hands.

Wu Qimai must give enough rewards politically to his descendants. Gradually, the Jin Dynasty court came under the control of this group of people, and this group of people extended their tentacles from the court to local governments and the army through Wanyan Zongwang and Han forces.

The migration of people to Yunzhong and Yanshan was nominally to digest the Liao's homeland and weaken the power of the Xi people and Bohai people, but in reality it was a means for several major factions to alienate the emperor.

In detail, the situation is more complicated.

The emperor and the inner court had conflicts with each other but had to cooperate. The inner court relied on Wanyan Zongwang to compete with Wanyan Zonghan. Wanyan Zongwang not only wanted to rely on the righteousness of the inner court, but also wanted to get rid of the inner court and move toward independence. At some point, he had to cooperate with Wanyan Zonghan.

In such a bizarre split situation, the Jin Kingdom can still be united in dealing with the outside world.

…

Yanjing.

The boss here is naturally Wanyan Zongwang, but the number two figure is Liu Yanzong, the general of the Liao Kingdom.

Xi people, Han people, and Bohai people are all willing to listen to Liu Yanzong's orders!

"The attack on the seaside salt fields should be from Shandong's cross-sea enemies," Wanyan Zongwang asked. "If we divide our forces to defend several major salt fields, we will inevitably be passive everywhere. The Ming army can choose any place from the sea to plunder. Do you two have any ideas?" "

Liu Yanzong said: "You should train as a navy master."

Shi Liai reminded: "Hainbin County is not the jurisdiction of the Yanshan Privy Council."

Liu Yanzong was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Indeed."

Both of them are currently loyal to Wanyan Zongwang, rather than to the Jin court.

Their intention was obvious, that is, to use the Ming army's attack on the salt field as an excuse to demand military and political jurisdiction from Huacheng (Dalian) to Haiyang (Qinhuangdao).

Shi Liai said: "The number of southern barbarians who crossed the sea was not large. They were just plundering along the coast and did not have the strength to capture the city. Since Lang Jun has received the letter asking for help, he can send an army there, but there is no need to be too anxious."

"Will the imperial court agree?" Wanyan Zongwang asked doubtfully.

Shi Liai said: "Maybe I will agree."

He properly respected himself as a bandit and did not take cross-sea raids seriously.

Wu Qimai was already very old, and Wanyan Zongwang wanted to increase his strength as soon as possible so that he would have the opportunity to compete with Wanyan Zonghan for the throne in the future.

Under the planning of two Han wise men, Wanyan Zongwang slowly sent out an army of only two to three thousand elite troops to Jinzhou to assist in the defense.

They sat back and watched the Denglai Ming army plunder everywhere, delaying rescue every time they got news, forcing the Jin court to give more power.

So, what is Emperor Wu Qimai of the Jin Kingdom doing?

Make history!

Compiled the history of the country from the Jurchen tribe period to Wu Qimai's accession to the throne, and used history revision to establish the legitimacy of his throne.

Does this trick work?

It works!

In history, Wanyan Zonghan annexed the troops of Wanyan Zongwang and Liu Yanzong, and completely controlled the military and political power in the homeland of the Liao Kingdom. He even dared to reprimand the emperor for illegally using the treasury.

But after the emperor died, Wanyan Zonghan was unable to succeed to the throne.

Because a group of people from the Shizu clan were already powerful, and they used the national history compiled by Wu Qibuy to occupy the great cause, they forced Wanyan Zonghan to give up the idea of ​​becoming emperor.

Of course, both sides were wary of each other, and no one could please anyone, so in the end they set up another puppet.

…

The Jin Dynasty court in Harbin was too far away, and Wanyan Zongwang in Yanjing had to rely on the bandits to respect themselves. The Ming army in Denglai looted and looted three salt fields for a month, but they did not encounter any decent resistance.

Those bastards got it easier!

This time, Zhao Li took action for real. He brought thousands of infantrymen over, and they all landed at Lushunkou.

At this time, there was no name for Lushun, but it was generally called Iron Mountain. There were iron ores there, and occasionally gold could be found there.

Before Xia Yuqing got off the boat, he saw beacon smoke burning ahead.

It was the "Beacon Tower of the Great Wall Zhendong Haikou" and it was put into use. In order to fight against the Bohai Kingdom, the Liao Kingdom built a Great Wall stretching for more than 70 miles here (from the northeast of Lushunkou to Dalian Bay).

Beacon towers one after another lit up thick smoke, but there were not many soldiers available for mobilization.

After destroying the Bohai Kingdom, the Liao Kingdom successively immigrated more than 100,000 people to the Liaodong Peninsula. However, the chaos at the end of the Liao Dynasty, famine and war led to a sharp decline in population, which can even be described as "only one in ten survives".

The entire Dalian area in later generations now has less than 10,000 households.

The Jurchen army was not large in number, and all were stationed in Huacheng County (Jinzhou) and Huacheng Pass (Dalian Bay). There was also a Shunhua camp next to Fuzhou. The garrisons in other places were all crooked Han troops and Bohai troops.

"Bombardment!"

The six large ships brought back by Xue Daoguang were all equipped with iron cannons, and they fired at the Great Wall beacon tower at Lushunkou.

Xia Yuqing had been promoted to a sergeant, and he led his soldiers and followed the Denglai soldiers to rush to the shore.

There was no salt field here, only the Great Wall and villages.

There were only more than a dozen Han soldiers stationed on the Great Wall near the beacon tower, and they fled directly after being bombarded. They ran along the Great Wall to the beacon tower further east, which was still fifty miles away from Huacheng Pass where the Jurchen soldiers were stationed.

Zhao Li and Song Jiang led the army to quickly occupy the beacon tower and rushed forward along the Great Wall.

After taking three beacon towers and capturing more than twenty miles of the Great Wall, the Denglai soldiers finally stopped charging. They were exhausted and panting, relying on the defensive fortifications of the Great Wall, waiting for the enemy thirty miles away to gather troops to attack.

The Shamen Island army where Xia Yuqing was located followed the Great Wall that had been occupied by friendly forces and searched for local residents on both sides of the Great Wall.

As long as all the people were taken away, the defenders here could not collect food on the spot, and could only transport food and grass from Huacheng (Jinzhou) in the future.

On the seashore and in the valley, fires broke out one after another. Those were the soldiers of Shamen Island burning down houses.

"Third brother, there is a big village over there!"

"Go and have a look."

There is a small river on the eastern foot of Tieshan, and Xia Yuqing found a village along the river.

But the villagers all ran away, and judging from the condition of the houses, one-third of the houses have been abandoned, probably due to the chaos at the end of the Liao Dynasty.

After searching for a while, no one was found, but an iron smelting workshop was found halfway up the mountain, and gold panning tools were found by the river.

"There is gold here!" The soldiers were overjoyed.

Although all the looted spoils needed to be handed in and then distributed collectively. But the more valuable the loot handed in, the greater their military merits.

Xia Yuqing hurriedly met with the other two squad leaders to hold a meeting, and each determined the search direction. Soon, clues were found.

The people here fled with money, food and livestock, and they must have left footprints, and some even dropped their property in a hurry.

More than 30 soldiers from Shamen Island searched all the way into the mountain, but they were ambushed.

The villagers rushed towards the soldiers from both sides of the mountain road with homemade swords. However, they had no bows and arrows, nor armor.

"Form a formation, form a formation!"

When Xia Yuqing shouted, the soldiers had already approached.

Completely beyond the villagers' expectations, the ambushed soldiers of Shamen Island, facing an ambush that was several times their number, were not frightened and fled, but instead formed a formation quickly and calmly.

Having experienced the physical meaning of "the survival of the fittest", they have long been accustomed to being ambushed, and it has become instinct to quickly close in and counterattack.

Archers hid in the formation and shot arrows, spearmen protected their teammates, and the halberds did not stop, constantly pushing away the villagers who tried to rush into the formation.

After only a few minutes of fighting, more than a hundred villagers were killed by more than thirty soldiers.

After capturing dozens of prisoners, Xia Yuqing asked: "Can you understand what I say?"

No one answered.

"Hold his hand!" Xia Yuqing pointed at a prisoner.

With a knife, the little finger was cut off.

Amid screams, Xia Yuqing asked again: "Can you understand what I say?"

Without waiting for the other party to answer, he chopped it off again.

The prisoner shouted in fear: "I can understand, I can understand!"

But it was too late, and another ring finger was cut off.

With the help of these captives, Xia Yuqing quickly found the hiding place of the villagers. But there was still no one there, and they fled in a hurry, and they didn't have time to take away a lot of food.

"Chase!"

Half an hour later, they caught up with the villagers. Those people drove livestock and carried money and food and couldn't walk fast.

"General, spare my life!" A middle-aged man knelt down with many villagers.

Xia Yuqing said: "As long as you follow us back to Shandong honestly, we won't kill people indiscriminately."

"Yes, yes, I will be honest." The middle-aged man hurriedly expressed his position.

This village has four or five hundred people, which is extremely rare in the sparsely populated Liaodong Peninsula.

Xia Yuqing asked carefully and found out that it was because of iron and gold mines. They don't have to pay taxes, but they have to hand over a certain amount of pig iron and gold to the government every year.

After going down the mountain, the soldiers began to set fire to houses everywhere.

The middle-aged man begged bitterly and actually took out a basket of books from a house.

Xia Yuqing was surprised and asked, "Have you studied?"

The middle-aged man said, "To be honest, my ancestors were officials of the Queen of Western Xia. At that time, the Queen of Western Xia, dozens of officials, and thousands of common people were relocated here by the Liao Kingdom and settled within a hundred miles. Because we missed our homeland, we all changed our surnames to Xia."

"Is that your daughter?" Xia Yuqing pointed at a girl.

The middle-aged man said, "It's my daughter."

Xia Yuqing said, "My surname is also Xia, you should change back to your ancestral surname."

Officers on Shamen Island can draw lots to get a wife first.

Even if Xia Yuqing doesn't draw this girl, he can negotiate with the winner with the permission of the commander. He is proud of being a scholar and looks down on ordinary village women, but this girl is to his liking and is willing to exchange her with a few months' military pay.

Xia Yuqing comforted his future father-in-law and said: "Denglai has many gold and iron mines. You all know how to smelt iron and pan for gold. You will not be abused when you go to Shandong. Married women will not be separated from their husbands."

"Thank you for your reminder, General." The middle-aged man finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If the looting continues like this, even if Wanyan Zongwang defends with all his strength, it will be hard to prevent.

The Jin Kingdom is expected to order coastal residents to retreat, and no one is allowed to live in areas within ten miles of the sea...