Volume 3 Chapter 16: The Benevolent Should Tremble (Part 1)
Many important things happened in Tokyo in May.
For example, Emperor Zhao emphasized the countermeasures of the Pseudo-Qi, announced his approval of Lu Yihao's version of the Southeast Yuechun Coin, and formulated the quota of troops for each army in the imperial camp...
Among them, the Imperial Camp Rear Army was directly reduced to a fixed quota of 15,000 after the Jiangning Army Rebellion, and was still stationed in the southeast, mainly to assist Lu Yihao in stabilizing the rear and serve as a necessary reserve army:
The Left Army of the Imperial Camp, which was the Huaixi Army led by Han Shizhong, had a quota of 45,000.
The Right Army of the Imperial Camp, which was the Huaidong Army led by Zhang Jun, had a quota of 35,000.
The front army of the imperial camp, that is, the former Tokyo garrison led by Yue Fei and his headquarters, has a total quota of 55,000. However, it is necessary to reduce and eliminate the troops of the Tokyo garrison on a large scale. However, it is also a fact that the troops of the Tokyo garrison are not only brave enough to fight, but also of mixed quality.
The central army of the imperial camp, because the Shanzhou army led by Li Yanxian has the Hedong righteous army, and he is unable to get away from the front line, it is difficult to negotiate the specific number for the time being, but Wang De and Wang Yanga together have a quota of 35,000...
All of these added together amount to a quota of 200,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry on paper, but the latter is difficult to fulfill in a short period of time and can only be done slowly.
In addition, there is also an appointment in Guanxi.
Due to geographical reasons, Guanxi was difficult to separate from Bashu, and considering the loss during transportation, the two naturally formed an independent economic and military system. The most reasonable and rational way was for Bashu to directly supply Guanxi and then form an army in Guanxi.
Moreover, Bashu is rich, and this time it is the only region that has not been affected by the war. Even judging from Zhao Kai's economic reforms, the economic potential there can still be further tapped, so even though it is out of reach, we must pay special attention to it.
Regarding this, Emperor Zhao was as relaxed as ever. He still had Yuwen Xu Zhong stationed in Chang'an to coordinate everything; he appointed Zhang Jun as the transport envoy of the five routes of Bashu, Xihe and others, in charge of the financial and fodder supplies in the rear; he appointed Hu Yin as the governor of Fuyan and Jingyuan, in charge of the front line... This formed a three-person team whose loyalty could be guaranteed.
After all, Emperor Zhao still trusts Hu Mingzhong. Although this man is incompetent in military affairs, his character is impeccable. Since he said that he would only listen to the words of veteran generals and would not interfere in military affairs for personal reasons, he will definitely be able to do it.
Compared with these events, such as the appointment of Li Guang as Chief Censor, Wanqi Xie as Palace Attendant Censor, and his tour to Nanjing as the "military supervisor" of Yue Fei's military reorganization, they seem insignificant.
Finally, although this May was extremely busy, Emperor Zhao finally decided to cordially receive the Goryeo envoy Kim Bu-sik...
That’s right, Zhao Jiu finally slapped himself in the face.
Besides, no matter how Liu Ziyu tried, how could the Goryeo envoy agree to join forces with the Song Dynasty to fight against the Jin Dynasty? This was not the time when Wanyan Aguda had just started his army, when the Goryeo Kingdom had only a few thousand soldiers and horses, but now the Jin Dynasty was a large country with hundreds of thousands of soldiers. It was unrealistic for him to fight against the Jin Dynasty with his body.
In fact, Goryeo had always been extremely honest during the process of the rise of the Jin Dynasty, the demise of the Khitan, and the weakening of the Song Dynasty... After Wanyan Aguda raised his army, they saw that the other side was weak, so they sent troops to attack under the banner of helping the suzerain state, the Liao Dynasty, to suppress the rebellion; later, Wanyan Aguda went crazy killing people in Liaodong, and they immediately made an agreement with the Jin Dynasty to become brothers; later, the Jingkang Incident broke out, and the two emperors were hunted north. They were shocked to hear the news, but immediately pledged allegiance to the Jin Dynasty.
During the whole process, Goryeo unknowingly took advantage of the situation to occupy all the territories east of the Yalu River, expanding its territory by more than half.
In comparison, that idiot Xixia, after the Khitan was destroyed, fought with the Jin Kingdom for territory. As a result, in a great cavalry battle, its main mobile force was completely defeated by the Jin Kingdom's most powerful Western Army. After the Jingkang Incident, it had obviously lost the strength to expand, but tried to take advantage of the border of the Song Dynasty. As a result, it was counterattacked by Qu Duan and Wu Jie, and has been silent until now.
In other words, as the third country other than Song and Jin that sees the situation most clearly (certainly more clearly than Xixia), Goryeo has always had its own judgment on the situation. When they sent envoys to Tokyo this time, no matter what the internal debate was, from the external performance, they were obviously shocked by the failure of the Jin army at the beginning of the year, and felt that the future situation might be a north-south confrontation between Song and Jin... Although Jin was strong, it was likely to become a stronger Khitan, and although Song was weak, it could stabilize the situation.
As a result, Goryeo once again placed bets on both sides, which can be regarded as a traditional art that has continued for more than a hundred years.
As for why Emperor Zhao broke his promise and made a fortune, the reason was very simple.
Prime Minister Lu Haowen came to tell Emperor Zhao personally that although Goryeo could not be used to fight against Jin, the trade between the two countries was still very friendly. After Jingkang, because Goryeo's Qi and Lu lands had recently fallen into the hands of thieves, economic and trade exchanges were inevitably severely frustrated. A proper meeting and expressing the hope of resuming sea trade from the south of Xuzhou would be of great benefit to the growth of commercial taxes.
In this regard, Emperor Zhao, who was already driven crazy by poverty, naturally responded readily.
However, when this official was looking for merchants in Tokyo who knew the inside story of Goryeo to do his homework in advance, he was shocked to find that... there seemed to be a possibility that Goryeo might take the initiative to attack Jin!
This is not fantasy, but fact, and the reason lies in the internal struggle of Goryeo.
"Good instructor, my family knows that Goryeo was not peaceful before."
It was still in the stone pavilion overlooking the lake, the only difference was that after seven or eight days, the weeds here grew more luxuriantly, and the snakes and insects in the lake were obviously more numerous. In broad daylight, the human voices could not even cover the croaking of frogs and cicadas... and the person who was speaking at this time was a tall, dignified middle-aged man dressed in white. He was a former failed scholar named Wang Lun, and later a wealthy businessman in the East China Sea. Because of his elegant behavior, he was nicknamed the White-Robed Scholar. At this moment, he was sitting in the stone pavilion and nervously telling the official a story.
"First, many years ago, a powerful official emerged in the country. He was the grandfather of the current King of Goryeo. His name was Li Ziqian. He was very powerful. After three dynasties, he gradually showed the intention of Wang Mang..."
Having said this, the man obviously paused. Beside the rich man in white, on another stone bench in the pavilion, another middle-aged man in plain clothes with a handsome face and a graceful figure like jade also looked embarrassed instinctively, because the person sitting next to him was a typical relative of the emperor, the so-called head of the Pearl Wu family.
That's right, this man in plain clothes who is about forty years old is naturally the father-in-law of the Wu family, Wu Jin, whom Emperor Zhao has always claimed to be looking for money. This time, Emperor Zhao asked him to find the Korean merchant, the white-clothed scholar Wang Lun.
"From what you said, it must have failed." Emperor Zhao naturally knew what was going on, but he didn't care and just urged casually.
"Of course not." Wang Lun answered quickly. "How could such a thing be possible? The current ruler of Goryeo is a man of means. He used the so-called Duke Zheng to defeat Duan Yuyan and played hard to get. In the first year of the Jingkang reign, he won over his grandfather's trusted generals, and then suddenly eliminated his grandfather and his entire party, and then exiled his grandfather's trusted generals."
Zhao Jiu nodded slowly... This is also an old routine in East Asia. All we can say is that Goryeo has a virtuous and upright ethnic group, and is worthy of being one of the long-standing core civilizations in East Asia.
"Later." Seeing the emperor nod, Wang Lun gradually got rid of the nervousness of meeting the emperor for the first time, and gradually became smooth. "Although the Li family fell, the military and financial power was temporarily uncontrolled, which instead caused internal fighting between the two groups of nobles in Kaijing and Xijing in Goryeo..."
Zhao Jiu found this boring. This kind of thing is really too reasonable, okay?
Wang Lun, a well-educated wealthy businessman, how could he not read the officials' expressions? He knew that the officials were impatient to hear these things, so he quickly skipped these nonsense and got to the point:
"Good instructor, you know that the internal fighting between the two groups of nobles based on regional factions gave the King of Goryeo an opportunity to appoint his own confidants. In order to take power personally, he did not hesitate to appoint the monk Myo-Ching, and some newly promoted confidants, such as Zheng Zhichang, to govern the country. These people all strongly advocated attacking the Jin Dynasty, and during the Jingkang period, they planned to attack the Jin Dynasty. It just so happened that the envoy Kim Bu-sik returned from Tokyo that day and warned of the Jingkang Rebellion and explained the strength of the Jin people, so the attack was stopped."
Zhao Jiu's heart moved slightly and he finally became interested.
"Your Majesty." After the introduction, Wang Lun finally expressed his opinion carefully. "Your Majesty asked me about the internal situation of Goryeo, and I had to answer boldly... According to my opinion, the people of Goryeo still generally look down on the barbaric attitude of the Jin people, and people in the court and the public are also quite angry about being called a vassal of the Jin people. But the group of people headed by Jin Bushi who came this time are dedicated to big things. They don't care whether they are barbarians or Chinese. They are dedicated to serving whoever they see, and they never hesitate to change their allegiance or care about their face. It was Jin Bushi who submitted a letter to the Jin people before, and now seeing that your majesty's power is so great in the Central Plains, it is still Jin Bushi who took the initiative to come as an envoy."
Zhao Jiu thought for a moment, then nodded slowly and said that he had worked hard.
Wang Lun was so frightened that he immediately stood up and saluted.
"That's good." Zhao Jiu thought for a moment and responded casually. "If you still want to do business, then go ahead and do business. Just treat this trip as a wasted trip. But if you are interested, I will send a note to ask Mr. Lu, now that the country is in need of people, can I ask you to temporarily enter the Honglu Temple and serve as Jin Fushi's envoy... Then if you do well this time, I will grant you a birthright and let you do this job properly?"
Wang Lun was a sea merchant who failed the imperial examination in the past. He had some expectations for this audience, so how could he not be willing? However, he also knew that he still had to pass Lu Haowen's test, so he did not dare to show too much emotion, but just bowed his head to thank the emperor.
After expressing their gratitude, Wang and Wu knew that the matter was over, so they did not dare to stay any longer and simply bowed and took their leave.
Emperor Zhao didn't care and actually walked Wu Jin for a few dozen steps before returning to the pavilion to think.
Let's not talk about what Zhao Jiu thought of and how he planned to deal with the Goryeo envoy. Let's just say that Wang Lun and Wu Jin went out together, walked many steps, and saw that the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds and there was not even a single person. He felt more and more emotional in his heart, but he didn't dare to say much.
But when he turned the door, he was greeted by a ceremonial procession. Although it was called a ceremonial procession, there were neither livestock nor carriages. There were only four or five palace maids and eunuchs surrounding a beautiful lady in palace dress. The beautiful lady in palace dress was holding a plate of ice cream in her own hand and was walking gracefully in the direction of the official's house.
Even Wang Lun was confused, but Wu Jin was overwhelmed. He bowed from a distance, but the beauty didn't even look at him, didn't say hello, and just walked past him.
After everyone left, Wang Lun suddenly realized: "It's Madam Pan? Where is your wife?"
Wu Jin looked at the sun and was also depressed, but he just shook his head: "I should be studying or practicing martial arts at this time... Anyway, I'm in school."
The scholar in white was stunned.
