Volume 2 Chapter 20 Gap
Although it was raining, Emperor Zhao was very busy lately.
The system of the Song Dynasty, in which all matters were decided by the emperor, perfectly guaranteed the power of officials, but it also made people confused.
One moment it's the matter of tax collection by the Maritime Customs, the next moment it's the issue of troop strength for the pacification envoy at the front, the next moment it's the plan to re-establish the General's Office in Nanyang, and the next moment there's the reorganization of personnel benefits. The work of suppressing bandits has just been arranged, and then there are some emergencies such as the generals at the front being unhappy... There's finance, military affairs, military industry, and personnel, who can be lazy?
Not only that, there were more and more wild pigeons outside the palace, and more and more people inside the palace. All the sounds coming together were enough to make people confused.
Don’t understand? Even if you don’t understand, you have to pretend to understand!
However, as Xiaolin sent back the letter, Emperor Zhao finally cheered up and was qualified to be lazy. Of course, it was a bit absurd to say so. Military affairs and life and death were more important than anything else! But it was a fact that Emperor Zhao came to the military camp, issued the order, took a rare nap, and then beat the drum to gather the generals.
However, although drums were beaten to gather the generals, there was none of the solemn and murderous atmosphere as in movies and TV dramas. I don't know if it was because there were few people due to the rain, or because most of the generals in the imperial camp were veterans and did not show any demeanor of military commanders in front of Emperor Zhao.
"Wang Qing, do you also want to fight as a vanguard?" Zhao Jiu, who was in high spirits, stared at Wang De in front of him for a long time before asking coldly.
"Hey..." Wang De hesitated for a moment, then put on an ugly smile to explain. "Didn't all the generals ask for a fight?"
"All the generals want to fight, so you want to fight. All the generals are commanders, so why don't you become a commander?" Zhao Jiu also stared at the man's mustache and laughed. "Han Shizhong said that you don't have the ability to be a general, so you give up on yourself?"
Wang De hesitated for a moment, but still felt a little unwilling: "Isn't it that the emperor is here to supervise the battle? With the emperor as the commander, why do you need me to be the commander? If it doesn't work, there is still Wang Dutong... I'll teach you well, if you can give me 5,000 soldiers, I, I... cough, I can take Dengcheng and break Xiangyang for you! The emperor just needs to supervise the battle from behind."
"I understand. What the prince means is that you can handle the matters on the battlefield, and I, the official, can just sit back and wait... Is that what you mean?"
"yes!"
"Wait until I finish reading these notes."
“Here…”
Wang De came as the deputy governor to ask for the vanguard, but he didn't get any confirmation. Instead, he got nothing. Emperor Zhao also frowned, and then he lowered his head to read the documents in front of him asking for battle. The central army tent, or the central army lobby, was silent for a while. However, Zhao Jiu lowered his head to read a few petitions, and felt a little irritated when he read those petitions in the palace... The petitions of these generals were all the same, all going south along the Baihe River, directly attacking Dengzhou and Xiangyang, and then all asking to be the vanguard. I don't know if it was because the central government was recruiting people recently, and the literati these generals had run away, so they had to ask the same person to write for them.
All I can say is that fortunately before Zhao Jiu came, he asked Liu Ziyu, Yang Yizhong, and Liu Yan to make a rough plan.
However, after reading through it, Emperor Zhao suddenly became interested. He held down the papers in his hands, looked around at the commanders, and suddenly laughed: "Didn't I give you an oral order to write a military strategy for this battle? Why didn't the two Xin commanders hand in any papers?"
"Your Majesty! My brother and I originally had two petitions, but just before the drums were beaten, we had some new ideas about this battle, so we didn't have time to write them down..." Upon hearing this, Xin Xingzong immediately led his younger brother out of the line and bowed, but he took the opportunity to bring out what he had just agreed with Hu Hongxiu. "Therefore, I request to stay in Nanyang, and request to station at Wuguan after the battle."
"I would like to lead a detachment to attack Niu Shou!" Xiao Xin also quickly echoed.
"In that case, Xin Qing is quite creative."
Unexpectedly, upon hearing the words of the Xin brothers, Emperor Zhao remained silent for a while, and only spoke slowly after a long pause. "Then let's do this. You two are allowed to make your request, and so is Wang Qing... In this battle, Deputy Commander Wang (Wang De) will be the vanguard, Commander Fu (Fu Qing) will be the deputy vanguard, and they will both set out for Dengcheng early tomorrow morning; Commander Xiao Xin will be the flank vanguard, and Deputy Commander Liu (Liu Yan) will be the deputy flank vanguard, and they will also set out early tomorrow morning and head for Niu Shou; Commander Da Xin will stay behind; the rest of the troops will be the central army, carrying food and supplies, and will slowly march with me tomorrow at noon."
After saying this, the official didn't say anything more to the generals, and directly took Yang Yi out of the central army hall.
Let's not talk about the central army, where Wang Yuan and Liu Ziyu are coordinating military affairs in their capacity as the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Camp and the Privy Council's Office. Liu Yan is also here waiting for orders because he got an assignment... On the other side, Emperor Zhao walked out of the central army hall with a gloomy look on his face, which made Yang Yi Zhong and others who followed him feel uneasy.
"Leave two umbrellas for me. Zhengfu stays here, and the rest can go."
Zhao Jiu came to the corridor, with one foot already stepping into the rain, but he suddenly spoke.
The eunuchs and guards around did not dare to say much and immediately went to the military quarters where the emperor was staying. Behind him, Yang Yi Zhong immediately bowed his head and made a gesture of obeying orders.
"I really don't want to be a suspicious official." Zhao Jiu didn't look at Yang Yizhong, but looked at the semi-permanent camp that had just been built and sighed. "I also know that these two incidents may be just coincidences... For example, the last time, it involved the privacy of the palace, which was something that the people liked to hear and see, and it might be that Prime Minister Lu accidentally caused it; this time, Xin Xingzong is a veteran general for decades after all, and he may not be unable to think of what you, Liu Ziyu, Wang Yuan, and Liu Yan can think of!"
"That's what I was going to say..."
"But on the other hand, if someone really uses such a despicable method as rumors to attack the Prime Minister, and if someone really dares to privately disclose the results of the discussion of the Privy Council in the palace to the generals below, if I do not deal with it, it will lead to a disaster." Zhao Jiu finally turned around. "This time, you don't have to go with me to the battle, stay here, and take advantage of the situation to re-establish the Imperial City Bureau..."
"Your Majesty, the Imperial City Department should be under the charge of the Supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs..."
"No need, it's you!" Zhao Jiu replied unhappily. "Don't forget, I forgot everyone after I climbed out of the well. It's only been eight months. If you don't do this, who should I look for? Look for Feng Yi. I've only known him for more than a month!"
Yang Yizhong bowed his head slightly and stopped refutation.
"I still remember what Feng Yi said when he proposed to re-establish the Imperial City Division." Zhao Jiu seemed to be thinking about something, and continued to speak slowly. "Three thousand people are too many, and we have just arrived in Nanyang, so it is not appropriate to put the name of the Imperial City Division on the map, so as to avoid the dissatisfaction of the ministers. The key is to first sort out the Investigation Division under the Imperial City Division. Two or three hundred people are enough... No locals are needed. We can recruit innocent people who have moved south from the nearby refugees, and we can also expand the name of the Banzhi and select from the army... There is no rush for this, I just need to know the origins of these two things after I come back!"
"Yes!" The mission was clear and correct, and Yang Yizhong had nothing to say.
Zhao Guanjia, who was only wearing casual clothes and a leather belt, also opened an umbrella and walked into the rain.
Moreover, for Zhao Jiu, the conflict of ideas at the military meeting was just an episode, not a big deal, because he knew in his heart that the probability of there being a problem with this matter was actually not high... The reason was simple, Fan Qiong's military arrangements were there, as long as people thought about it seriously, people with high skills would eventually reach the same conclusion.
However, the previous incident really disgusted him, so much so that although the official waved his hand and told no one to mention it again, he was still upset about it in his heart, so he started to engage in spy politics in the name of so-called military affairs.
It was as if he had been criticized by Censor Hu, but he still couldn't help taking notes.
I can only say that this is the level of some people.
Looking back, it rained continuously the next day, but under the stimulation of military achievements and the personal supervision of Emperor Zhao, the various troops in the imperial camp set out southward on time as planned, preparing to quell the rebellion.
It is particularly worth mentioning that, perhaps because the military pay had just been reissued, no rewards were issued for this expedition, which broke a record of the Song Dynasty's imperial guards for many years.
In fact, Emperor Zhao also wanted to see whether the army of the Song Dynasty could fight safely and securely even if the soldiers were paid properly and trained honestly.
The result seems to be no.
On the third day of April, Emperor Zhao personally led an army of more than 10,000 soldiers out in the rain. On the seventh day of April, Wang De and Fu Qing arrived at the city of Dengzhou, less than a hundred miles away. After easily sweeping the surrounding towns, they failed in their siege.
On the ninth day of April, amid intermittent rain, Emperor Zhao led his main force to the city of Dengzhou, but still failed to climb the city wall that day.
At this time, people in the city saw the emperor's dragon flag coming from afar, so they sent envoys out of the city to surrender to the emperor. The condition was naturally to pardon the generals in the city. In this regard, Emperor Zhao did not make things difficult for the envoy, but naturally rejected him.
The next day, the rebels in the city came out in the rain to rob the camp, but were easily defeated by the generals of the Song army at the foot of the city.
On April 11, the weather cleared up temporarily. Fu Qing suggested taking advantage of the surging Baihe River to divert water to flood the city, but the government rejected the suggestion. However, the camp began to build equipment and even showed signs of firing cannons.
That night, the city sent out messengers for the second time.
"We have strayed into the wrong path and regret it deeply." The visitor was properly searched and escorted into the tent. He still kowtowed to the young man sitting in the seat. "The Jin people abandoned us as a cover, and we also know that we are powerless to compete with the government's heavenly soldiers. At this point, we only hope to survive..."
"Just to stay alive?"
Amid the croaking of frogs, Zhao Jiu, who was looking at some notes sent from Nanyang, raised his head and said sternly, "In other words, as long as I promise you a life, whether it means hard labor or exile to Lingnan, you are willing to accept it?"
"That's exactly what I mean!" The man continued to kowtow regardless of the muddy ground.
"Is it because Fan Qiong didn't support you?" Zhao Jiu put down the note and sighed. "Not only did the Jin people abandon you, but even the old shoes abandoned you..."
"I regret it so much, and we surrendered to the Jin people blindly." At this point, the man paused for a moment before continuing to kowtow and plead. "Your Majesty, please let me know that the main culprit who surrendered to the Jin people was the former Caizhou inspector Li Shang. If your Majesty can spare the lives of the rest of us, then... we can also tie him up and bring him to the city to be executed."
It had been raining for days and the roads were muddy. The remaining tens of thousands of Jin rebels in the city were abandoned by everyone and had no way of survival. However, the Song army, including thousands of civilians, were already exhausted. The generals who had been competing for the lead a few days ago had lost all their spirit.
Therefore, upon hearing this man's earnest words, the generals around in the tent, starting from Wang Yuan, all showed signs of moving. Even Liu Ziyu couldn't help but look at Emperor Zhao's attitude.
"No." Zhao Jiu put his hands on the table and looked at the person in front of him with a stern face, but he was straightforward and direct.
"Your Majesty!" The man raised his head in grief and anger. "The situation that day, everyone thought the country was going to perish..."
"Is he dead?" Zhao Jiu responded coldly.
"Let's not talk about that day, but just talk about the present. Why is it that Fan Qiong only executes the main culprit, but we are not even allowed to talk here?"
"Fan Qiong didn't surrender either!"
"Is it so important to surrender to the Jin?" The man stood up angrily, but was held down by two soldiers. "In terms of actions and reasons, we are much more innocent than Fan Qiong... You must know that it was the Zhao family who was incompetent and abandoned the country first!"
"How dare you!" Wang Yuan shouted, and the generals around him drew their swords together.
"Let him speak." Zhao Jiu didn't care.
"Why don't you dare to speak?" The man stood up and looked up. His hair and beard were all stained with dirt, but his eyes were red with anger. "The world must belong to you, the Zhao family, and we, the people of Jingxi, were abandoned by you, the Zhao family. The Jin army is at the gates of the city, and you, the official, are nowhere to be found. Your parents and children are right beside you. If you don't surrender to the Jin, who will protect your family?"
"You are right. I am wrong, and the two saints are wrong too. If this battle really causes countless casualties, I can issue an edict of self-blame after the war, or I can issue an edict of self-blame on behalf of my father and brother... Moreover, I also know that some of you are indeed wronged and innocent." Zhao Jiu answered calmly, as if he had seriously thought about this issue a long time ago. "But I just can't negotiate with the surrendered Jin rebels! I still say that if you come to surrender, you will open the city and surrender, and then let me deal with you, that's all."
"Officials."
The man suddenly calmed down again. "You must know that there are still thousands of people in the city..."
"You look like an educated person." Zhao Jiu was not afraid. "Then you should know that there has been a similar rule since the Han Dynasty. Those who coerce hostages will be attacked and killed. If you really want to do this, it will only make it more severe when I deal with you later!"
The man stared at each other in amazement, and after a moment he asked again, "Is it true that the government does not want to leave us a way out?"
"I just want you to surrender unconditionally and let me do whatever I want." Zhao Jiu responded bluntly. "That's what I want to say. If you have nothing else to do, go back and tell me!"
The messenger sighed, no longer reluctant to linger, and turned away, seemingly decisively.
As soon as the man left, Wang Yuan leaned forward and said, "Your Majesty, this man was just threatening with empty words. You must know that the battle was urgent that day. They followed Wanyan Yinshu to Dengzhou, but their families stayed in this place... For this reason, how could they dare to do such a thing that would offend the world?"
Zhao Jiu nodded, but was unwilling to say more about it.
But there were some people around who were blind, so Liu Ziyu could no longer bear it and asked, "Sir, are you really going to bury tens of thousands of people in the city like this? This is not what a wise ruler does!"
"When did I say I would kill tens of thousands of people?" Zhao Jiu responded coldly. "Even if they were to punish them, at most they would behead the leader, and the others who were guilty would be sent to do forced labor, to work as boatmen on the river for a few years. As for the rest of the innocent soldiers, why would they be charged without reason? Maybe they would just pick out the ones with outstanding physiques and use them. If there were any young people, I'm afraid they would have to be given money and food on the spot to let them go home."
"I think so too." Liu Ziyu breathed a sigh of relief. "If that's the case, why not give them a hint? As long as they understand, they will surrender immediately given their current attitude."
"We just can't talk about it." Zhao Jiu sighed and continued to look down at the notes on the table. "This matter is not about the guilt, but about not being able to talk about it... Because if we talk about it today, what will happen tomorrow? If we talk about it in Dengzhou, what will happen to the hundreds of military states in Lianghe, Central Plains, and Guanxi in the future? This is the rule of the war between Song and Jin. Once it is shaken, countless people will have a fluke mentality when the war comes. Am I not forcing this matter?"
"Your Majesty has made careful considerations." Liu Yanxiu was solemn, but also slightly embarrassed. "It is also because your vision is too narrow."
Zhao Jiu was too lazy to pay attention to him, but since he had come to this point, the official couldn't help but put down the note, looked around at the generals in the tent who looked quite embarrassed, and took the opportunity to say:
"Did you understand what I just said? I did not pardon Dengzhou today, not because they have committed many misdeeds in the two months since they surrendered to the Jin, but because I want to use them to warn you, the remaining generals... There are thousands of things in the army, and the most fundamental thing is to surrender to the Jin. This is even more intolerable than Liu Guangshi's escape! Disobeying orders and fleeing at the sight of the wind will make the army empty and useless. At most, I will only kill the generals, and their troops can be reorganized and used. Moreover, if they really cannot fight, retreat and transfer are common after reporting in advance. If there is a mistake in the middle, we can always discuss it. Liu Guangshi also spoke to me in front of the emperor before his death; but once they surrender to the Jin, they are enemies, not friends, and I can't even talk to them! I hope you will remember it!"
Wang De, Huyan Tong and others were fine. They didn't have such an option in their minds at all. They just bowed casually to show that they accepted the order, and then lamented about the old story of Liu Guangshi. However, Fu Qing and others were quite awe-inspiring.
Nothing happened that night. The next day, April 12, unexpectedly, the four gates of Dengzhou City were suddenly opened, and the rebels abandoned their weapons and surrendered.
"Who were the envoys who left the city twice before, and where are they?" Zhao Jiu hurried out of the tent and looked at a group of officers kneeling in the mud in front of him, and couldn't help but think of someone.
"Good instructor, the man is Li Shang, the inspector of Caizhou, and also a general appointed by Yin Shuke. He led us to Fan Qiong." Someone raised his head with all his strength. "After he came back yesterday, he knew he could not escape punishment, so he gathered the generals of various tribes in the city, surrounded and killed them first, then summoned us to surrender, and finally committed suicide. Those who leave the city today are no more than team commanders."
Zhao Jiu stood there with his hands behind his back, looking at the table in silence… He wanted to say, "If I had known this would happen, I would have done it in the first place," but he didn't know where to start.
