The Conspiracy of the Nine Golden Kingdoms (3)

And if the Great Song Dynasty accepted the Jin State's proposal to redeem the lost land with silver money, then when people thought that the lost land could also be redeemed with money, they would inevitably gradually return to the old road of despising military equipment and suppressing military generals. In order to raise enough money to redeem the lost land, it is bound to reduce military expenditures to reduce financial expenditures, and military armaments will become slackened. At that time, what capital did the Great Song Dynasty have to fight against the Jin Kingdom. If the Jin State breaks the contract, the Great Song Dynasty will have no choice, let the Jin State slaughter, and redirect Jingkang's difficulties.

Now Zhao Chen has been the emperor for eight years, and has experienced many ups and downs in the political arena, and is fully familiar with the mentality of the ministers, most of the ministers do not have any long-term vision, and the concept of attaching equal importance to civil and military affairs has not been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but in the face of the threat of the Jin State and the righteousness of recovering the lost land, they have to accept it. If you really accept the agreement proposed by Jin Guo to redeem the lost land with money, you will definitely go back to the old road. Zhao Chen also had to admit that Jinren's trick was really harmful.

Zhao Chen let out a long breath, stared at Yang Yan, and said, "Brother-in-law reminded me well, I will never allow the Jin people's tricks to be presented." ”

Yang Yan said: "The tricks of the Jin people are not limited to this, and the last point is that they want to provoke the internal party struggle within our Great Song Dynasty again, so that our Great Song Dynasty will not stop internal friction." ”

Zhao Chen couldn't understand this. Party struggle has always been a very taboo thing in the Great Song Dynasty, but what does Jin Guo's proposal have to do with party struggle.

Song Shenzong used Wang Anshi's reform, and the worst result was that it triggered a dispute between the old and new parties in the court. After the death of Song Shenzong, the old and new parties also lost Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, the two leaders of the overall situation, and inevitably fell into the battle of will and spirit regardless of the overall situation and only fighting for the moment. In the nearly 30 years that followed, the old and new parties rose and fell one after another, taking turns to appear, and whichever side was in power was bound to be ruthless to the other. After the other side came to power, it immediately launched a frenzied revenge against the opponent.

As a result, in the fierce party struggle, the country, the overall situation, morality, and right and wrong were all left behind. And the righteousness, fashion, and righteousness in the court were also wiped out by this endless party struggle. Cai Jing's ascension to the throne further deteriorated the political atmosphere of the imperial court, and finally there was the later Jingkang change.

After the southern crossing, although Zhao Gou attributed all this to Wang Anshi, who presided over the reform of the law at the beginning, and removed him from the Temple of Literature, he also realized the disastrous consequences of the party struggle on the overall situation of the government. However, Zhao Gou did not stop the development of party disputes. On the contrary, he personally opened a new round of party struggle in the Great Song Dynasty, that is, the main battle and the main peace dispute.

In the two dynasties of Zhao Gou and Zhao Yan, the battle between the main battle and the main peace has always been accustomed to the situation of the imperial court. As long as the Jin army invades the territory, the main battle faction will take the position, and once the Jin army withdraws and the situation calms down, the main peace faction will come out. The irony is that during the sixteen years that Qin Hui was in power, he clamped down on his thoughts, excluded dissidents, cracked down on political opponents, and covered the sky with one hand, and the court was a lot quieter.

After Xiaozong ascended the throne, although he has been actively seeking to recover the lost territory and hoping to do something, out of the tradition of "not letting one faction dominate and the two factions contain each other" in the political situation of the Great Song Dynasty, Xiaozong has always maintained a balance between the main battle and the main peace in personnel arrangements. When Zhang Jun was activated, Tang Sihui was also promoted, Yu Yunwen was appointed as the prime minister, and Liang Kejia was placed side by side. Although the balance of political forces between the two sides has been maintained, it has invisibly fostered the atmosphere of party strife.

Therefore, in the more than ten years of filial piety, the scholarly atmosphere has always been full of court, the warfighter reprimanded the peacemaker for forgetting the hatred of the heavens, and the peacemaker ridiculed the warfighter for his great success, without scruples, the two sides insisted on each other's words, and the discussion was ineffective and ineffective. As a result, although people of insight have chastity in their hearts, they can only act without seeking loyalty, but they have no fault. You can't be ridiculed by a gentleman, and you can't be angry with a villain. Beginning with tolerance, and ending with grace.

But after Zhao Chen succeeded to the throne, the situation was greatly improved. Because Zhao Chen appeared with a strong voice of restoration from the very beginning, the voice of peace between the DPRK and China was greatly reduced. When Zhao Chen succeeded to the throne, in order to ensure the stability of the court situation, he continued to retain Liang Kejia and Hong Shi and others in power. With the gradual stabilization of the throne, Liang Kejia, Hong Shi and other ministers have also been expelled from the political arena, and a number of ministers of the main war have been reused. Even Zhou Kui, who is always the master of peace, does not dare to put forward the idea of cutting land and seeking peace with Na Yuan.

This time, although the agreement proposed by the Jin State to redeem the lost land with silver money caused some controversy among the Song Dynasty and the opposition, in essence, it was not the main peace, but the Song and Jin sides relied on their strength to come up with a result that was acceptable to both sides. Therefore, Yang Yan proposed that it would trigger the party struggle of the Great Song Dynasty again, and Zhao Chen felt that he was a little worried.

Seeing Zhao Chen's expression, Yang Yan knew that he didn't believe it, and further explained: "Juchen knows that my Great Song Dynasty has a very fierce debate about the agreement proposed by the Jin people to redeem the lost land with silver money. Once the court makes a decision, whether it agrees or not, it will be strongly attacked by the opposing side, and the party that agrees with it will fight back in order to ensure its own opinion, so that the dispute between the two sides will only become more and more intense, so that it will be out of control. You must know that the struggle between the new party and the old party did not fight to the death from the beginning, but gradually and gradually developed to that point. ”

Hearing Yang Yan say this, Zhao Chen remembered the fierce quarrel between the ministers in the court during the day, and couldn't help but fall into contemplation again.

In fact, Zhao Chen also knows that not allowing one faction to dominate in the court also has its positive effect. But he still strongly attacked the main peace faction and appointed the main battle faction, on the one hand, because of Zhao Chen's desire to regain lost territory and achieve meritorious deeds, on the other hand, it was also Zhao Chen's understanding of politics that was deeper than that of Xiaozong. When two factions are in contention, even if they are within one faction, they are by no means monolithic. It is only in the face of a common enemy that one can unite in unison, and when there is a dominance in the court, it is often the beginning of the internal division of the faction.

It was precisely because he figured out this truth that Zhao Chen dared to let go of the main peace faction and let the main battle faction sit big. In fact, the main battle faction is actually divided into two camps, one side is called the adventurous faction, that is, as long as it is ready, it will take the initiative to attack the Jin State, Han Yanzhi, Wang Yan, Liu Hui, Xin Qiji, and Zhang Yan all belong to this faction. On the other hand, the other side is called the Conservative faction, which advocates that it is not enough to only prepare itself, and must wait until there are flaws in the Jin State and have full certainty before sending troops to the Northern Expedition. Before there is no good opportunity, we should still focus on stability, Zhao Ruyu, Zhou Kui, Ye Hao, Fan Chengda and others all support this view.

Although the views of these two schools are different, the main premise is the same, that is, they both advocate the use of force to regain lost territory. And adopt a tough attitude towards the Kim country. Accumulate and revitalize the armament war. A temporary peace agreement with the state of gold is also feasible under the condition that it is not damaged. It is precisely because the ultimate goal of the two sides is the same, and their respective leaders Han Yanzhi and Zhao Ruyu are considered to be people who take the overall situation into account, so although the two factions are opposed, they have not developed into a situation where they are like fire and water. And in many things, we can cooperate with each other sincerely.

However, the agreement proposed by the Jin State to redeem the lost land with silver money made the two sides obviously have signs of a large split, and those who rejected this proposal were basically the regressors, although they did not see as far-reaching as Yang Yan, but most of them understood the military, and they had more or less direct communication with the Jin State, and knew that the Jin State could not be trusted, and the reconquest of the lost territory could not rely only on silver, but still rely on strong military strength. Most of the conservatives agree that they are all civilian officials with little military experience, and they think that unless the time is unsolvable, everything can be solved without war, and they should try not to solve it without war. Therefore, Jin Guo's proposal is right for their appetite.

Although the quarrel between the two sides is still at the level of discussing things, as Yang Yan said, it is because the imperial court has not yet had a clear intention, and both sides have restrained themselves, in fact, there are bad signs of the scriptures, but they have been unanimously suppressed by Zhao Chen, Han Yanzhi, Zhao Ruyu and others. Once the imperial court makes a decision, whether it is in favor or against, it is bound to cause strong dissatisfaction on one side. Then it is not impossible to evolve to the step of party struggle.

Thinking of this, Zhao Chen couldn't help but be a little afraid. Because he has the scriptures in his heart, if he can't get a result from the discussion, he might as well agree to come down first, after all, it is always good to be able to exchange for a few state capitals. If Yang Yanji hadn't rushed back to remind himself that if he made a rash decision, then the consequences would be really hard to say.

Therefore, Zhao Chen asked: "Whether we agree or oppose it now, it will not calm the debate, so according to my brother-in-law, what should we do?" ”

Yang Yan said: "Tomorrow, the official family will first summon a few ministers from the Ministry of Letters and the Privy Council, and first explain to them the harm of Jin Guo's proposal, no matter what kind of decision the government makes, the opposing side must maintain restraint and not cause party disputes." Several ministers are people who take care of the overall situation, and I believe that they will understand the good intentions of the official family. With a few of them supporting the overall situation, the officials below will make trouble again, and there will not be much movement. ”

Zhao Chen nodded and said, "What my brother-in-law said is true." As long as they are convinced, then it will be much easier to reject Jin Guo's proposal. ”

Yang Yan shook his head and said, "No, official, we don't refuse, but we have to agree to this proposal." ”