Chapter 333: Defeat Tian Hu

…

"Some ministers in this dynasty do not care about the big plans and cause trouble at every turn. They ask for private invitations from Tian Hu and Tian Zuo, and even start a war with the Yuan Dynasty. Thanks to the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, he does not want to lose his life and is willing to make peace with me, the Song Dynasty. It's just a matter of ceding land. Now the imperial court will cede Shandong, Hebei, and Hedong to the Yuan Dynasty. From now on, the two countries will use the river as their boundary, and they will make a good oath to ensure that the people of the two circles can live in peace and prosperity. There is an urgent need to govern the country wisely. Only three thousand people, not limited to officials, imperial students, and rural talents. Those who are interested can go to Dutingyi to register for the assessment. If selected, the three divisions will receive 360 ​​yuan a month, and the prime minister will receive 900 yuan, and he will be informed of political affairs. Six hundred mins, six ministers of the six departments have one hundred and eighty mins, ministers have one hundred and sixty mins, nine ministers have one hundred and thirty-five mins, Shaoqing has one hundred and five mins, Chi County magistrate has ninety mins, and Chi County magistrate has forty mins. Wu Min..."

In early February of the fifth year of Song Xuanhe's reign, such an announcement was posted in all eye-catching places in the streets and alleys of Bianliang City, Tokyo.

Undoubtedly, the people of the Zhao and Song dynasties suffered a great loss, which also aroused fierce opposition from many patriots.

After seeing the announcement, many people who loved the Zhao and Song Dynasty gathered from all directions to the square in front of the Xuande Gate of the Zhao Song Palace. People crowded in front of the door, bustling and crowded, noisy and chaotic.

Soon, Chen Dong, a student of the Imperial College, led hundreds of other disciples to come to the Xuande Gate and submit a letter, requesting Zhao Ji to take back his order, arguing that the size of the ancestral land could not be ceded.

This incident soon caused a sensation in the whole city and attracted widespread attention from the whole society.

Not long after, more people came from all directions and unexpectedly gathered outside Xuande Gate. Among them were citizens and soldiers.

More and more people gathered, and soon there were tens of thousands of people. It could be described as a sea of ​​​​people and a huge momentum.

These people all come spontaneously, and they all come for the same purpose. They were all very excited and encouraged each other: "If you have to teach your majesty to take back the ceded land, how can you grant the ancestral land to others?"

At this time, all the officials just retreated from the court, and the court officials walked towards Xuande Gate from Donghua Gate one after another.

When Wang Fu walked to the door, someone suddenly recognized him. Everyone cheered and rushed forward, accusing him and enumerating his crimes. Some people cursed loudly, "Wang Fu, how can you be the prime minister because the country is like this?!!!" "

Some people even walked straight up to Wang Fu and wanted to hit him. What's worse, some people picked up the rubble on the ground and threw it at Wang Fu!

Fortunately, Wang Fu's personal guards fought hard to protect him, and Wang Fu escaped with his life.

Of course, there were also Song ministers who supported the patriotic actions of the imperial students and the people. Some Song ministers even raised their whips and bowed their hands in salute to Chen Dong and others, saying: "You, sir, are loyal and righteous for this."

The guards patrolling under the gate quickly reported the situation outside the gate to Zhao Ji.

After Zhao Ji learned about it, he immediately issued an order, ordering people to send people to accept the memorial from Chen Dong.

Wang Fu also ran into the palace and asked Zhao Ji to kill Chen Dong and other troublemakers.

What is unexpected is that Zhao Ji not only did not agree to Wang Fu's request, but also quickly hinted that Wang Fu would become an official.

Wang Fu fell out of favor not entirely because the Zhao and Song Dynasty began to decline after he came to power. Now he is openly ceding territory to seek peace, which makes Zhao Ji lose face. In fact, there is another, perhaps more important reason, that is , Zhao Ji suddenly discovered that Wang Fu and Liang Shicheng were actually neighbors, and the two families were connected by a private door.

In other words, Zhao Ji finally realized that the reason why Wang Fu understood him so well and were close friends with him was entirely because of Liang Shicheng's internal response.

In any dynasty, it was taboo for ministers to associate with servants, and the emperor was very sensitive to this.

It was the same in the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

Court officials were not allowed to make friends with eunuchs, and eunuchs were not allowed to make friends with court officials. This was an important principle of the Zhao and Song Dynasty to prevent eunuchs from monopolizing power. According to regulations, if the two interact with each other, they will be punished.

However, during the Zhao Ji period, especially since the declaration of peace, it has become a common custom in the Zhao and Song Dynasties for eunuchs to interact with court officials. Almost all scholar-bureaucrats were busy with eunuchs. They became accustomed to each other and were all proud of being attached to the eunuchs. All the powerful eunuchs, such as Liang Shicheng, Tong Guan, Yang Jian, Li Yan, Tan Zhen, Zhang Di, etc., all had their own families. Each major eunuch established his own clan, receiving bribes from the public in order to sell official titles.

The reason has a lot to do with Zhao Ji's preference to reuse eunuchs and give eunuchs great authority, even above the prime minister.

After Wang Fu came to power, everything went from bad to worse.

Zhao Ji felt that Wang Ming had disappointed him too much.

At the beginning, Zhao Ji pushed against all opinions and promoted Wang Fu to replace Cai Jing, who had outstanding political achievements, as the prime minister of the Zhao and Song Dynasties. It can be said that he had high hopes for Wang Fu.

Zhao Ji also gave Wang Fu the highest treatment among the prime ministers of his dynasty. Not only did he give him a mansion, he also personally inscribed his mansion with the words "Dexian Zhi Ding", and even personally inscribed Wang Fu's mansion with "Dexianzhiding". There are seven plaques including Zai Geng Hall.

As a result, Wang Fu and Liang Shicheng sang and harmonized in front of Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji felt that Wang Miao had done him harm.

Of course, you can also understand that if such a big thing happens, someone must stand up and take the blame, and Wang Fu is the person who takes the blame.

Wang Fu's political sense was very keen, and he also felt that the situation was becoming more and more unfavorable to him. So, seeing that Zhao Ji's attitude towards him had changed, he quickly took the initiative to submit a memorial and requested to be appointed.

Zhao Ji quickly approved Wang Fu's request and gave Wang Fu and Cai Jing the same retirement benefits as when they became officials.

After Wang Fu became official, Zhao Ji quickly asked Cai Jing to come back to his post, and he also headed the Council of Ministers. He was still in charge of the affairs of the three provinces. He went to the court every five days to attend to the affairs of the capital hall, which made Cai Jing once again appear on the political stage of the Zhao and Song dynasties.

This is the fourth time Cai Jing has served as prime minister.

Cai Jing was seventy-six years old this year. He was blind and unable to write, and too weak to kneel down. Cai Jing asked his younger son Cai Sui to take over all the documents that needed to be signed by Cai Jing. replace.

In other words, Cai Jing is the prime minister in name, but Cai Sui is actually in charge. At least Cai Sui is handling many things.

Every time Cai Sui went to court, the attendants and the following people bowed to him, cheered in front and embraced him, and dozens of court officials followed him with documents in their hands.

Cai Sui's arrogance and arrogance aroused strong dissatisfaction among the ministers of the Zhao and Song Dynasties, laying hidden dangers for the subsequent politics of the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

So why did Zhao Ji re-enable Cai Jing?

This is actually a helpless move.

The current situation of the Zhao and Song Dynasties is really bad. When Cai Jing was still the prime minister, the situation of the Zhao and Song Dynasty was much better than it is now. The iron triangle of him, Cai Jing, and Tong Guan also achieved brilliant political achievements.

Zhao Ji felt that with Cai Jing's sophistication, he would be able to find a way to solve the current difficulties and overcome the crisis in the Zhao and Song Dynasties, so he still had great expectations for Cai Jing.

After Cai Jing and his son came to power, they suppressed the objections of the imperial students and the people to the cession of territory and peace talks with thunderous force, and completely passed all the responsibilities of the Zhao and Song Dynasty to Wang Fu. It was an expedient measure to buy some time for the Zhao and Song dynasties.

The Dayuan Empire's recruitment of three thousand literati in Bianliang City, Tokyo, is progressing very smoothly.

Some people may ask, didn’t the imperial students love the Zhao and Song dynasties, and didn’t they oppose the cession of territories and peace talks? How could they agree to the recruitment of the Yuan Empire?

There are actually many reasons for this.

First, anyone with a little foresight can see that the Zhao and Song Dynasties are now in decline, while the Yuan Empire is rising. Not only will they not be able to develop their political ambitions if they stay in the Zhao and Song Dynasties, Chances are, he might have to be buried with the Zhao and Song dynasties.

Er Nai, the redundancy of officials in the Zhao and Song Dynasties was really serious. One official position would often be filled with six or seven people (one official, five or six candidates), or even more, and even those who became officials might not be in politics. Opportunities, not to mention those who have never become officials at all, such as children from poor families, such as imperial students who are not particularly outstanding and do not have a good family background. To put it bluntly, even if the Zhao and Song Dynasty can survive this hurdle, they will The Zhao and Song dynasties did not have the opportunity to serve as officials, but when they went to the Yuan Empire, they could immediately start working in politics.

Third, the treatment given by the Dayuan Empire is really good. The salary is the same as that of the Zhao and Song Dynasties. When you go there, you will be assigned houses, wives, and all your family members. Even if your family has 800 people, Even the Yuan Empire didn't mind, dividing fields, grains, and arranging places to live.

Fourthly, many of the officials who came to recruit literati and civil servants this time were literati who went to the Yuan Empire from the Zhao and Song Dynasties. Among them were many literati who had a very average life in the Zhao and Song Dynasty or had relatively average abilities. .

——Seeing this, many literati will think: "They can all be officials in Dayuan. If I go there, I can't be worse than them?" This is more convincing than any words.

Also, not all literati and imperial students are as courageous as Chen Dong and others.

You know, in history, with the fall of Bianliang City in Tokyo, many Tai students took the initiative to sell themselves and join the Jin people. They not only gave advice and suggestions to the Jin army's southern invasion, but also followed the Jin people's requirements and destroyed the mountains and rivers of their hometowns (mainly in the south). He drew it exactly as it was, and even served as a guide to the Jin man. Some Tai students heard that the Jin people might massacre Bianliang City after leaving Tokyo. In order to escape death, they rushed to identify prostitutes as their wives, hoping to follow the Jin people northward as their family members. As a result, even the Jin people felt that They were not worthy of being scholars, so more than sixty of them were dismissed.

Therefore, it is said that those who are righteous often slaughter dogs, and those who are unfaithful are mostly scholars. Since ancient times, most literati have no character.

In short, almost everything Jiang Hongfei wanted was achieved. Tian Bao, Shen An, as well as Emperor Chengde Ji Zhao Huer, Xunde Emperor Ji Zhao Fujin, Huifu Emperor Ji Zhao Jinxian, and Xiande Emperor Zhao Qiaoyun had already gone north in the first month of this year. After arriving in Yanjing, these three thousand literati will also go to Yanjing in batches to further solve the problem of insufficient talents to govern the country in the Yuan Empire.

The key point is that the relationship between the Zhao Song Dynasty and Tian Hu will definitely break off completely. I am afraid that no one will trust the Zhao Song Dynasty and form an alliance with it in the future, and the rule of the Yuan Empire will be more stable.

Of course, Chai Jin later made some concessions on behalf of the Yuan Empire and gave Zhao Ji a step forward.

That is, the Dayuan Empire not only did not ask for the three million stones of food, but also agreed not to mention the four emperor concubines in the announcement, which was to help Zhao Ji and his ministers conceal that they not only ceded land, but also made peace, and the four emperors were The two emperors married Jiang Hongfei together as concubines.

Otherwise, even if Zhao Ji and his ministers push Wang Fu out to take the blame, they may not be able to pass this test.

Let’s talk about Tian Hu.

In fact, Jiang Hongfei did not first send Chai Jin and Xiao Rong as envoys to the Zhao and Song Dynasties, but first sent Wen Huanzhang and Wang Jieru as envoys to Tian Hu's Jin State to talk to Tian Hu about the merger of his Jin State into his Yuan Empire. .

Jiang Hongfei wrote a personal letter to Tian Hu: "I heard that those who obey the heavens will prosper, and those who go against the heavens will perish. Those who win the hearts of the people can build a country, and those who lose the hearts of the people will not be able to defend the country..."

To put it simply, Jiang Hongfei stated in the letter that he did not care that Tian Hu had secretly formed a conspiracy with the Zhao and Song dynasties to jointly attack him, and was also preparing to steal his concubines. As long as Tian Hu was willing to abandon the dark side and surrender to the bright side, he would give him a prince, and then give him He built a large house with a thousand rooms in Yanjing City, a hundred beauties, and treated everyone in his family and all his ministers favorably.

But Tian Hu didn't know whether it was because he didn't believe Jiang Hongfei, or because he felt that he would not lose if the Zhao and Song dynasty joined forces with him, or because he was reluctant to let go of his dream of becoming an emperor. In short, he simply disagreed.

Wen Huanzhang and Wang Jieru were of no use to Tian Huxiao's reasoning or emotion.

There was no other way, so Jiang Hongfei had no choice but to change his strategy and pull the trigger, that is, sending Chai Jin and Xiao Rong as envoys to the Zhao and Song dynasties.

But even so, Jiang Hongfei still had a glimmer of hope in Tian Hu. To put it bluntly, Jiang Hongfei did not want to take over Hedong by force.

Based on this, after Jiang Hongfei broke off the alliance between the Zhao Song Dynasty and Tian Hu, he sent someone to show Tian Hu a copy of the peace treaty signed between the Yuan Empire and the Zhao Song Dynasty, and told Tian Hu that his younger brothers Tian Bao and Shen An were in In his own hands, Zhao Ji promised Zhao Huer to him, and Zhao Ji also gave it to him. Zhao Ji had no sincerity in forming an alliance with him.

Jiang Hongfei also said that as long as Tian Hu was willing to surrender to him, he would return Tian Bao and Shen An to him, reward him with Zhao Huer, and give Tian Hu an imperial concubine from the Zhao Song Dynasty.

In short, Jiang Hongfei is already very sincere.

In addition, Jiang Hongfei also sent people to contact Qiao Daoqing and other important officials under Tian Hu, including Tian Hu's concubines Wu Fei, Fan Meiren, etc., and asked them to persuade Tian Hu to surrender.

But Tian Hu is a bastard who is determined not to surrender.

After all the good things to say, Jiang Hongfei stopped talking nonsense and went straight to action.

Jiang Hongfei exchanged Tian Bao and Shen An for Wen Huanzhang and Wang Jieru, and then gathered all the ministers and generals to discuss, and finally decided: Xu Guanzhong was appointed as the Xuanfu envoy, Mrs. Jia was appointed as the capital commander, Liu Qi and Yue Fei were appointed as the left and right forwards, and Gongsun Sheng , Fan Rui, Xu Qingniang, Wang Gongren, and Wen Huanzhang served as the army's staff officers, and the horse army leaders Du Bo, Sun An, Hua Rong, Hu Yanzhuo, Qin Ming, Suo Chao, Sun Li, Yang Zhi, Shi Jin, and the infantry leader Yan Shude, Yu Cheng, Liu Guang, Xie Zhen, Wu Song, Liu Tang, and Yan Xiaoguang led a total of 200,000 troops to attack Hedong from south to north.

At the same time, Jiang Hongfei personally led an army of 300,000 troops to attack Hedong from north to south.

In early May of the second year of Hongwu in the Great Yuan Dynasty, the army of tigers cutting down fields from the south gathered in Daming Mansion, and then moved into Weizhou to camp.

Wu Song once stationed troops here and knew Tian Hu's arrangements here well. He told Xu Guanzhong, Mrs. Jia and others: "Tian Hu's bandit army is huge and cannot be underestimated. Zezhou is guarded by Niu Wenzhong, a pseudo-privy minister under Tian Hu, who sent his subordinate Zhang Xiang , Wang Ji, led 10,000 troops to garrison Hui County, which belongs to this state, Shen'an, Qin Sheng, led 10,000 troops, and garrisoned Wushe, a county belonging to this state."

Wen Huanzhang suggested: "Lingchuan is an important area of ​​Gaizhou. If we don't lead troops to attack Lingchuan, the two counties will be destroyed without attack."

Yue Fei stepped forward and asked for orders: "The last general is willing to lead the troops to capture Lingchuan."

Xu Guanzhong, Mrs. Jia and others agreed.

At the same time, Jiang Hongfei personally led an army of 300,000 people to an important pass on the Great Wall, which is known for its "danger" and is known as "the first pass in China". It is said that "there are nine fortresses in the world, and Yanmen is the leader." In front of Yanmen Pass, together with Ningwuguan and Pianguan, known as the "Three Outer Passes"...

…