Chapter 187 Li Yuanhao Prepares to Become Emperor and Attack Song

The Emperor of Song is addicted to the Internet, and the Executive Vice Emperor is traveling.

The Political System Council is working overtime, and the senior officials in charge of military and political affairs in the northwest are reforming the military.

Then the people's situation has not improved much, the treasury is in deficit, and the problems of redundant troops, redundant officials, and redundant expenses are still serious.

This is the current situation of the Song Dynasty.

But there is no way.

Zhao Jun really took power in September last year.

He has not fully understood the basic situation of the Song Dynasty. He used to look at it from history books, which is inevitably biased.

So now he must be down-to-earth, go deep into the grassroots, and thoroughly understand the basic situation of the Song Dynasty.

But from the current understanding of a series of situations, it is indeed biased.

Well.

The problems of the Song Dynasty are more serious than those recorded in history books.

This is not just a problem that can be solved by killing a few corrupt officials. Maybe even the emperor will have to be beaten before thorough reform.

But overall, as long as Zhao Jun continues to hold power and keep going, there is still hope.

Because the communication cost of the top leaders of the Song Dynasty is very low now, unlike the previous Song Dynasty, where they were scheming against each other, hindering each other and making nothing happen.

And in many things, they have more trust and less suspicion, such as Fan Zhongyan holding power.

The reason for this situation is that the appearance of Zhao Jun made many things clear.

Whether in later generations or ancient times, why do people like to appoint relatives once they are in power, such as companies, officialdom, enterprises, and even dogs in the village?

It is because there are not so many concerns when communicating with relatives.

Imagine if an outsider is under your command, you have to speak politely, and think about every word, looking ahead and behind, for fear that any word is expressed incorrectly, which will make the people under your command think too much, thus deriving unnecessary troubles.

For this reason, the superiors often need to wrap their true thoughts in countless layers of language to disguise, speak vaguely, and cannot speak too true or too detailed, and become riddlers one by one.

Therefore, there was a saying in the ancient officialdom that one should guess the intentions of the superiors. In the Ming Dynasty, it became a model. Jiajing was an old riddle man. Therefore, Yan Song and Xu Jie had to become masters of guessing the intentions of the superiors.

Relatives talk more casually. They can say whatever they want to say. Even quarrels between brothers and fathers are not a big deal.

On the surface, it seems that they talk casually, but in fact, it shows that relatives communicate their ideas more thoroughly and naturally, which is more conducive to work.

More importantly, relatives have a deeper interest alliance relationship. When the group faces a crisis, outsiders are likely to jump ship to protect themselves.

Family members generally do not do so because they often have nowhere to retreat.

Therefore, the deep logic of nepotism and the so-called family business in later generations is actually to use blood ties as a bond to carry out deep-level interest binding to prevent betrayal.

However, the only person who cannot use this logic is the emperor.

The emperor cannot trust his relatives because they may betray the emperor.

Just like Zhao Kuangyin trusted his younger brother so much, but was eventually usurped by Zhao Guangyi.

But it is different now.

Zhao Jun's appearance spoiled a lot of things, resulting in the three ministers, three ministers, Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan being less alienated from the emperor and more frank with less scruples.

Because they had a secret to keep together, and to some extent, they also had a deep-level alliance of interests.

In addition, Zhao Jun spoiled a lot of things, resulting in a series of conflicts of interest between them.

So they spoke more frankly.

This way of communication will obviously greatly increase work efficiency, including Fan Zhongyan's going to the northwest, and he will not be constrained by various constraints and have greater power.

So when the people in the highest power institutions of the upper level of the Song Dynasty became an alliance of interests and jointly built the future, what were the upper power institutions of the Western Xia and Liao at this time?

At this time, Li Yuanhao of the Western Xia had not yet proclaimed himself emperor. He had just executed his uncle Wei Mu's family, his mother Wei Mu Shuangyang, his wife Queen Wei Mu, and his son born to him by Queen Wei Mu the year before. In the future, he will kill his son and his wife to rob his daughter-in-law.

In comparison, Liao Xingzong Yelu Zongzhen, who only imprisoned his mother and demoted his first empress to a concubine, was considered a filial son, a good husband, and a good father.

At this moment, in the palace of Li Yuanhao in Xingqing Prefecture of Western Xia, he was reading a secret letter sent by a spy.

In fact, Western Xia has already established a country, but it is not an empire, but a kingdom. Since his grandfather Li Jiqian, Western Xia has been independent of Liao and Song and has become a third major force.

The Liao Dynasty named his grandfather the King of Xia, and the Song Dynasty named him the King of Xiping. Later, Li Yuanhao's father Li Deming inherited his grandfather's title and was further named the King of Daxia by the Liao Dynasty. The Song Dynasty also named Li Deming the King of Xia. Since then, Western Xia has basically become a kingdom.

Li Yuanhao has now inherited his father's legacy, but he is far from satisfied with this. So in recent years, with the assistance of two trusted ministers, Yeli Wangrong and Yeli Yuqi, he began to prepare to ascend the throne and become emperor.

In fact, the preparations for the enthronement have been almost complete. A Dangxiang regime with "the Yellow River in the east, Yumen in the west, Xiaoguan in the south, and the desert in the north, covering an area of ​​more than ten thousand miles" has been established. However, due to repeated defeats in battles with Zuo Silu last year and the year before, the country is somewhat unstable, so there is some hesitation.

"Your Majesty, the Song people suddenly changed their commander at the border. They must be on guard against us. It may not be easy to attack them from the south now. Maybe we should submit a letter of credence and continue to show weakness to the enemy, so that they will think we have no intention of invading from the south."

Yeli Yuqi Duo was very cunning and gave advice to Li Yuanhao in Xixia language.

Li Yuanhao glanced at Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao in the room and said in Chinese: "Song has changed its border commander. Shouldn't we go south? We have tried all kinds of methods over the years, such as provoking Song envoys, showing weakness to the enemy, and writing to the Song emperor as a minister, but it still can't change the fact that they are on guard against us. It's better to be generous."

Zhang Yuan looked at Li Yuanhao gratefully, bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty is wise. The Song Dynasty is weak and the upper and lower levels are not united. Even if they feel that there is something wrong with the border, what can they do to prevent it? As long as the strategy is appropriate, we will be able to defeat them and seize the entire Shaanxi Road."

Historically, Zhang Yuan advised Yuanhao to block Tongguan and occupy Chang'an. Strategically, Xixia has always wanted to annex the entire Shaanxi Road. However, although Li Yuanhao has won many times, the Xixia army and civilians have also suffered heavy casualties and the economy has almost collapsed. It is difficult to annex such a large territory, so the final strategy failed.

But Zhang Yuan had been encouraging Li Yuanhao to attack Song since he went to Xixia in the first year of Jingyou, and was eventually appreciated by Li Yuanhao and promoted to military advisor of Daxia. It can be said that he had at least two-thirds of the credit for Li Yuanhao's determination to attack Song.

Only Yeli Yuqi was still sober-minded and said, "Your Majesty, Daxia is a small country with few people after all. If the enemy is not prepared, it may be easy to take. But if there is a defense, it is still not appropriate to start a war with a powerful neighbor."

"We have paid attention to the situation in the northwest of Dasong in these years. I have known their situation for a long time. Even if they change the generals, I am not worried."

Li Yuanhao frowned, threw down the document in his hand and said, "I am only worried about the situation of the Political System of the Song people."

He turned his head and looked at Zhang Yuan and said, "Military advisor, you are a Song person and have been to Bianliang many times. Have you heard of this Zhao Jun before?"

Zhang Yuan went to Bianliang for examinations many times, but he failed to pass the exam.

He shook his head and said, "I have never heard of this person. According to the reports from the spies in Bianliang, this person only appeared in Bianliang in July and August last year. He was initially appointed by the Emperor of Song as the Director of the Imperial City Department. Soon after, the Emperor of Song established the Political System Institute and made him the Director."

"This person's surname is Zhao. Could he be a member of the Zhao royal family?"

Li Yuanhao pondered.

The first thing he thought of was not Zhao Jun's extraordinary talents or Zhuge Liang's life, but Zhao Jun's relationship with others.

It's not that he has bad intentions, but the facts.

At least Zhang Yuan is indeed very talented, but he couldn't pass the examination to become an official in the Song Dynasty.

With the national conditions of the Song Dynasty, even if Han Xin came, he would have to study for two years. If Zhuge Liang was reborn, he would probably have to shake his head and take the imperial examination.

In the Song Dynasty.

It is impossible for any amazing talent to rise to the top without passing the imperial examination.

So Li Yuanhao instinctively thought that Zhao Jun was a royal family.

But he never expected that Zhao Jun, the time traveler, was almost fooled into taking the imperial examination, but he managed to win back a city by coaxing, deceiving and threatening Zhao Zhen.

So this situation that Li Yuanhao couldn't figure out appeared.

Zhang Yuan expressed his doubts: "This is not in line with common sense. The Song Dynasty is most suspicious of the royal family. How could the royal family of Zhao be allowed to hold such a high power?"

"Maybe it is the son of Zhenzong?"

Li Yuanhao thought of a possibility that everyone in Bianliang thought at that time.

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "If he is really the son of Zhenzong, then the Emperor of Song should be more suspicious of him."

"Forget it."

Li Yuanhao felt a headache and waved his hand: "Let's ignore this person for now. There are great changes in the Song Kingdom now. We have bribed some officials and learned that starting from this year, the Song Kingdom will increase its troops by 20,000 to the northwest border and transport a large amount of food and grass. It seems to be on guard against us. What should we do?"

Yeli Yuqi insisted on his own opinion and said: "The king should send an envoy to the Song Kingdom to show the Emperor of Song that Daxia and Song Kingdom are willing to make friends. With Liao Kingdom in the north, I believe that Song Kingdom will not dare to offend us too much."

Li Yuanhao said unhappily: "It was you who persuaded me to become emperor, and it was you who asked me to make friends with the Song Dynasty. What is the reason?"

Yeli Yuqi shook his head and said: "Making friends with the Song Dynasty and becoming emperor are not in conflict. After becoming emperor, you can also conclude an alliance with the Song Dynasty and Liao Kingdom. With Liao Kingdom by our side, why must we provoke the Song Dynasty?"

This sentence made Li Yuanhao very shaken.

This is what happened to Li Yuanhao in history. Although he was crowned emperor, he wrote to the Song Dynasty as a minister, recounting and praising the relationship and merits of his ancestors with the Central Plains Dynasty, explaining the legitimacy of his founding and becoming emperor, and asking the Song Dynasty to formally recognize his title of emperor.

So it can be seen from here that Li Yuanhao still had awe for the Song Dynasty and did not dare to go too far.

It was not until the Song Dynasty decisively rejected his title of emperor and issued an edict to "strip the official titles and titles granted by the surname" and stop the trade. It posted a notice and offered a high reward for high officials to capture him, which made the two sides completely hostile and the war was imminent.

Now the Song Dynasty suddenly sent more troops to the northwest, seemingly to guard against his attack. In this case, Li Yuanhao had to consider whether to proceed according to the original plan.

However, Zhang Yuan firmly advised Li Yuanhao to attack the Song Dynasty. He advised: "Your Majesty, no emperor in this world relies on charity from others. If you want to achieve the great cause of the emperor, you must rely on killing. Your Majesty, you must be the emperor." , will definitely make Song and Liao unhappy. If Song is defeated first, Liao will be afraid, only then can the throne be stabilized. "

Then he added: "If the Song State is not defeated and the prestige is established, both the Liao and Song States will feel that the king is weak and can be bullied. Pretending to be emperor is provoking the majesty of Song and Liao. Once they join forces to invade, then Daxia will The situation is at stake, so we must not hesitate, we must defeat one of them before we can establish a country!"

These words are still very touching.

In fact, Li Yuanhao not only professed his tribunalship to the Song Dynasty, but also to the Liao Kingdom. After proclaiming himself emperor, he would definitely offend Song and Liao.

If Song and Liao attack simultaneously after becoming emperor, it will definitely be very dangerous for them.

Therefore, only when proclaiming the emperor, the weaker Song Dynasty should be defeated immediately, so that the Song Dynasty would be unable to send troops, and then it would be able to calmly deal with the Liao Kingdom's attack.

"But."

Li Yuanhao worriedly asked: "What if we use troops against the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom takes the opportunity to invade?"

Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, the Liao Kingdom will definitely not come. On the contrary, when we use troops against the Song Dynasty, they may use their troops to intimidate the Song Dynasty."

"oh?"

Li Yuanhao asked in confusion: "Why is this?"

"There are two reasons."

Zhang Yuan raised two fingers and said: "First, the Song State is strong and has many soldiers and horses. The Liao State is happy to see me, Daxia, go to war with the Song State first and weaken the Song State's strength."

"Well"

Li Yuanhao nodded thoughtfully, Zhang Yuan's words indeed made sense.

When the second child and the third child fight, does the boss intervene in the fight, or does he sit back and watch the fight? This is a no-brainer question.

When both the Xia and Song Dynasties were defeated, the Liao Kingdom, which was the strongest, could naturally reap the benefits.

"Both, the Liao Kingdom is far away and the Song Kingdom is close. Once a war breaks out with the Song Dynasty, it is impossible for the Liao Kingdom's troops to cross the vast grassland to the northwest within a period of time."

Zhang Yuan continued: "So even if the Liao Kingdom invades, we can deal with it calmly."

"Um."

Li Yuanhao thought so.

Ye Li Yuqi said: "Now the Song Dynasty is building a defense line in the northwest. If we fail to defeat the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom sends troops again, attacking from both sides, what should we do?"

"I thought that even if we didn't defeat the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty would not dare to chase beyond the Great Wall. At most, they would just stick to the Shaanxi Road to prevent us from continuing to attack."

Zhang Yuan said: "Because if Daxia really faces enemies from both sides, it will be very dangerous. But if Daxia is destroyed, the happiest people will not be the Song people, but the Liao people. The land of Daxia will be taken away by the Liao people, and the Liao country will become more powerful. , How can Da Song feel at ease?"

If the Liao Kingdom also comes to attack Xixia, the probability of Xixia's subjugation is very high. Then if Song and Liao jointly attack Xixia, whose hands will the territory of Xixia belong to?

Of course, whoever is forced to surrender will do so.

Therefore, it is in the interests of the Song Dynasty that Xixia continues to exist to contain some of the Liao's forces.

That is to say.

Under normal circumstances, Li Yuanhao could not only provoke and attack the Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty had nothing to do with him. They also had to ensure that the Xixia regime continued to exist.

I have to say that this seems to be an invincible position.

Li Yuanhao was very happy after hearing Zhang Yuan's analysis and praised: "The military advisor is right. If we want to establish a country in Daxia, we must defeat the Song army. We should follow the original plan and officially ascend the throne as emperor next year. Let's see." Song Ting's reaction: If the Song people want to turn against me, I will never be afraid of a fight! "

I feel like I'm in a state of confusion, and I don't know what I'm writing, but it's just the transition after the climax of these chapters, and then the climax continues.