Forty-four intrigues within the Song Dynasty

At this time, it was the sixth year of the Great Song Dynasty (1176) in December, and the year was about to end, although at this time the Great Song Dynasty fought on the two fronts of Western Xia and Jinyuan, and the fierce battle was in full swing, not only almost all the troops of the Great Song Dynasty were used, but also a large number of civilian servants were transferred, and the whole dynasty was full of tense war atmosphere.

But after all, this time the war was carried out on the land of another country, and the people of the Great Song Dynasty did not suffer from the swords, and the war happened, basically after the autumn harvest, although the people were hired as laborers, but it did not affect this year's harvest, plus the Song army continued to win, and the news of the siege of the city and the land was transmitted back to Jiankang, which also diluted the difficulties caused by the war. Therefore, on the whole, the lives of the people of the Great Song Dynasty have not been disturbed much. Now that the New Year is coming, Jiankang City is still full of lanterns, and the festive atmosphere is getting stronger. At this time of year, many people rush to Jiankang to watch the grand scene of the year, and this year is no exception.

But for the Great Song court, this New Year is destined to be unpeaceful. Although the plan of Bi Zaiyu and Chen Min's two-way army to attack Tokyo was frustrated, the troops did not suffer much loss, and the capture of Shou, Ying, Cai, and Tang prefectures by Jing could be used as the basis for re-attacking Tokyo, so in terms of the entire Jianghuai situation, the Great Song army still occupied a certain advantage.

At this moment, Wanyan Changzhi, the general of the Jin State, suddenly attacked, and together with the monk Wanyan Chen, he expelled the left-behind envoy Su Shilie Hu Shahu in Nanjing, occupied Nanjing and Shandong, raised the flag and stood on his own, and openly raised the anti-flag to the Jin court.

After this news reached Jiankang, the monarchs and ministers of the Great Song Dynasty were all overjoyed, and when the two countries were hostile to Guan Jian, there was a rebellion within the enemy country, and he was also a general stationed at the border, just like the art of war: the enemy country is in chaos, and it is just cut down. So it's a godsend. Some ministers even suggested to the imperial court that the war against Western Xia should be stopped immediately, and Yang Yan should immediately attack Jingzhaofu from the northwest, cooperate with Jianghuai's offensive, and attack Jin on a large scale. In one fell swoop, the lost territory of the Central Plains was recovered.

However, after discussion, Zhao Chen and the four ruling ministers who stayed in Jiankang all believed that it was not advisable to stop the war against the Western Xia now, because the war in the Western Xia had reached the time of Guan Jian, and if they stopped at this time, then the previous efforts would be in vain. On the contrary, the capture of Western Xia was not small for the Great Song Dynasty. What's more, the mobilization of the army is not an easy thing, and now that the reinforcements of the Jin State are engaged with the Song army, it is difficult to say whether it can be as wishful thinking as the Song Dynasty, and once the Song army ceases, it will give the Jin army a respite, just in time to return to the Jin country, quell the rebellion, and resist the attack of the Song army.

Therefore, the Great Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers finally decided that the war in Western Xia was still going on according to Yang Yan's original plan. In the Sichuan-Shaanxi area, Yang Yan was also controlled and actively prepared, and troops could be sent to attack the Guanzhong area at any time.

On the Jianghuai front, we should take advantage of the rebellion in the Jin State to further strengthen the strength of the Song army, and concentrate the main combat objectives on the Central Plains, striving not only to recover Tokyo in one fell swoop, but also to fight for the entire area south of the Yellow River. This resolution was unanimously adopted by the four ruling ministers, and even Zhou Kui, who had never been interested in the resumption of force, changed his original intention and strongly supported it.

After receiving the confirmation of Zhongshu Province, Zhao Chen immediately instructed the Privy Council to work with the Governor's Office to immediately formulate a new military plan. At the same time, he also ordered the household department and the three divisions to prepare for military use.

After some urgent deliberations, Wang Yan, Li Xianzhong, Qi Fang and others believed that on the basis of the current two-way attack, they should add another route to Xiangyang Mansion to send troops, and enter Luoyang through Nanyang to form a three-way attack on the Central Plains. In terms of troops, the Song army on this road was controlled by the imperial garrison of Xiangyang Mansion Shi Jun as the chief general of the Western Route Army, and the imperial garrison of Ande Mansion was under the command of Li Quan as the deputy, concentrating the strength of these two imperial garrisons to capture Dengzhou, Nanyang and other places first.

On the Huaixi front, Qi Fang led the remaining men and horses of the infantry army division to support Chen Min, and then dispatched the front army of the palace front division and the two rear armies to reinforce Bi Zaiyu's troops. Then launch an attack on the Central Plains. And let the privy envoy Wang Yan personally rush to Gwangju to sit in the town, and generally control the attack of the three-way army.

At the same time, Cao Xun, who was also in the Shandong region, also stepped up the offensive, on the one hand, to further involve the Jin army in Shandong, and on the other hand, if possible, he could also take the opportunity to collect the Shandong territory.

In this way, the Song army invested more than 200,000 troops on the front line of Jianghuai, and it can be said that now the Great Song Yijing is pouring out the strength of the whole country.

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Jiankang, Shi Miyuan Mansion.

Zong Tianxuan said: "Master Shi urgently summoned me to Jiankang, is there anything wrong?" ”

Shi Miyuan nodded and said, "Naturally, there is something, Mr. Zong, do you know that the imperial court has decided to continue to increase its troops on the Jianghuai front line to collect the Central Plains and Shandong." ”

Zong Tianxuan was stunned, but he still didn't understand what Shi Miyuan meant, and said casually: "I see, then the adult called Tianxuan, so what's the matter, is it necessary to stir public opinion and prevent the imperial court from continuing to use troops in the Central Plains?" ”

Shi Miyuan shook his head and said, "No, no, this time we not only can't stop it, but on the contrary, we have to fully support the imperial court's use of troops." ”

Zong Tianxuan was not only a little stunned, but said, "Master Shi, why is this? Didn't you say before that the faint monarch has always suppressed the ministers with military might, and once the military victory will inevitably make the reign of the faint monarch more stable, so we must try our best to stir the public opinion and prevent the imperial court from using troops, so why do we support it now? ”

It turned out that before the Great Song Dynasty used troops against Western Xia, the huge anti-war frenzy that broke out was actually the result of Shi Miyuan and others behind the scenes. Because although Shi Miyuan doesn't know much about military affairs, he is also a person with extraordinary consciousness after all, and from the general situation, the strength of Western Xia is simply not enough to compete with the Great Song Dynasty. Yang Yan is also a person who is very good at using soldiers, and there is also Mongolia attacking from the north of Western Xia, and the new monarch of Jin has just succeeded to the throne, I am afraid it will be difficult to rescue Western Xia, so this time the Song army sent troops to Western Xia, and the chance of winning is still very great.

Shi Miyuan knows that all along, Zhao Chen has always appeared in front of the ministers with a firm image of the main battle, which also caters to the claims of a considerable number of people, and after succeeding to the throne, the Great Song Dynasty's external wars have basically been victorious, so it is also greatly encouraging, because it is the Great Song Dynasty has always been weak externally, and now it is finally tough, no longer bullied by foreign enemies, and there is no need to cut land and pay money for peace, so except for a few rotten Confucians who stick to Taoism, most of the subjects actually welcome this result in their hearts.

So once the battle against Western Xia is victorious, it will be the largest military victory in the history of the Great Song Dynasty, and its intention is enough to compare with Emperor Taizu's pacification of Jiangnan. Then Zhao Chen's prestige in the country will inevitably increase greatly, his rule will be more stable, and the chance of setting up a new monarch in his plan will become smaller and smaller. Therefore, it was at the beginning that he tried his best to arouse public opinion and oppose the war. But Zhao Chen was unmoved, but instead pushed the war forward with strong means, and now with Yang Yan's victories in Western Xia one by one, the voices of opposition are becoming less and less. Shi Miyuan complained bitterly in his heart.

And now, the imperial court is about to avoid the battlefield of Jianghuai, and the scale of the war is getting bigger and bigger, and there is actually a civil strife in the Jin State at this time, which is simply too bad for Shi Miyuan. But Shi Miyuan unexpectedly found that a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity suddenly appeared in front of him.

Hearing Zong Tianxuan's question, Shi Miyuan smiled and said: "At this time and that time, now the imperial court is exhausted, and the faint monarch is very happy, in order to win, he does not hesitate to send a large army to fight, and all the generals are dispatched, and now in this Jiankang City, there are less than 40,000 horses, and the garrison is empty, but it is a good time for us to do something!" ”

When Zong Tianxuan heard this, he couldn't help but light up his eyes, and then he suddenly realized and said excitedly: "Master Shi is very right, now is indeed a good opportunity to do something. Between his expressions, he couldn't help but be a little eager to try.

Shi Miyuan remained silent and said, "How many people have you recruited in the Taihu Lake area now?" ”

Zong Tianxuan hurriedly said: "There are about three thousand people in the Taihu Lake area, and among them, there are more than two or three hundred people who can be regarded as good hands. In addition, there are more than 1,000 people in Lin'an Mansion. ”

Shi Miyuan nodded and said: "I have sent more than 1,000 people in Jiankang City, and some Guanjian places have been distributed, and now there should be no less than 5,000 people, and there are a lot of people." Moreover, as soon as we started to do something, Li Quanhui, the imperial garrison of De'an Mansion, immediately led the soldiers and horses from Hubei to reinforce us, so as long as we could kill the faint king in one fell swoop, then we could immediately recruit a hundred officials and appoint King Deng as the emperor, so that a great thing could be accomplished. ”

Zong Tianxuan was also very happy, and said: "It's all planned by adults to make it today, so what do adults want me to do now?" ”

Shi Miyuan said: "Don't hesitate, you immediately rush back to Taihu Lake, gather all the manpower to come to Jiankang in batches, but don't enter the city, I will arrange a place for you to live outside the city and wait, everything is subject to my order, and then I will arrange to enter the city one by one." And don't tell them what to do except your fellow disciples, lest the news slip out. Then you immediately protect King Deng, sneak into Jiankang, hide in my mansion, just wait for the New Year, when the whole city celebrates, and when the guards are lax, we will immediately attack, and we can succeed in one fell swoop. In addition, don't move the manpower in Lin'an, once we have an incident on our side, Lin'an can also attack at the same time and take both in one fell swoop. ”

Zong Tianxuan hurriedly said: "Okay, everything is subject to the arrangement of the adults, I will rush back to Taihu Lake to arrange it immediately." With that, he said goodbye to Shi Miyuan and left happily.

After Zong Tianxuan left, Shi Miyuan couldn't help but sigh, his expression changed a lot, and the confident appearance just now was gone. Although he frightened Zong Tianxuan, he knew in his heart that this time, the chance of success would never exceed thirty percent.

The first problem is that there are still 40,000 forbidden troops guarding Jiankang, although the Yijing is much less than usual, but compared to the thousands of rabble in his hands, it is still not to be underestimated. can only hope for a sudden attack, kill the leader of the army in one fell swoop, so that the forbidden army will be in chaos without a fight. If this article is somewhat certain, then Li Quan's support, Shi Miyuan has a big question mark.

The relationship between Li Quan and Shi Miyuan is purely a combination of interests, and Li Quan is a fine person, and he has been mixed in officialdom for so many years, he will never be as easy to fool as Zong Tianxuan. Will he change his mind halfway? If it weren't for Li Quan's support, if he wanted to rely on the thousands of rabble under his command to succeed, that is, only stupid people like Zong Tianxuan and Zhao Hong would believe it. The only thing that can make Shi Miyuan think that there is some guarantee is that through several contacts, Li Quan is also ambitious, and ambitious people will not give up such an opportunity.

And the one that made Shi Miyuan have no bottom at all is Yang Yan. If you are lucky, get Li Quan's support, and then suddenly attack, maybe you can attack the palace in one fell swoop and kill Zhao Chen, these can be done. And as soon as Zhao Chen died, the Zhao clan was only Zhao Hong, so Zhao Hong was established as the emperor again. In Shi Miyuan's view, even if most ministers are dissatisfied at first, they will eventually admit this result, and even if there are a few who are not convinced, at most they will abandon the official and not do it, and they will not be able to make much waves.

But Shi Miyuan was clear in his heart, only Yang Yan would never admit this result. And now he is holding a heavy army, and he has a very high prestige in the army, if Yang Yan turns to attack Jiankang under the banner of avenging Zhao Chen, not to mention a hundred responses, the followers are like clouds, but there will be many people who defect to his side, and other generals in charge of the army, I am afraid they will have a wait-and-see attitude. In this case, with Yang Yan's ability to use troops, it is not difficult to break through Jiankang, and he can't resist at all. This is the biggest burden in Shi Miyuan's heart.

Shi Miyuan didn't think of a way to deal with Yang Yan, but he came up with a few, but he didn't feel that he could grasp it well. For example, Shi Miyuan thought that Yang Yan's family members were all in Jiankang, and he could take his family members as hostages to threaten Yang Yan. But how big the effect is, Shi Miyuan didn't count it in his heart, causing Shao to be angry, if he changed Shi Miyuan himself, he was afraid that he would have to abandon his family at that time.

However, knowing that the chances of victory were not great, Shi Miyuan still had to act, because he also understood that now that Western Xia had been repeatedly defeated by the Song army, it was no longer enough to sustain it. Although Jin Guofa sent an army to save Western Xia, Wanyan Yungong was really a mediocre person, and he would never be Yang Yan's opponent. And Wanyan Changzhi rebelled in Nanjing, and the Great Song Dynasty took advantage of the chaos to fight, and the victory was also very great. Moreover, the relationship between Zhao Chen and Yang Yan seems to be unbreakable, and there is no chance to take advantage of it, so the longer it drags on, the more stable Zhao Chen's throne will be, unless he puts away his ambitions and is willing to be a loyal minister of the Great Song Dynasty, the less chance he will have to do anything again.

And now that most of the elite soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty have been transferred, Jiankang and Degree of emptiness, it can be said that this is probably the last chance, so no matter what, Shi Miyuan has to give it a try.