Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 456

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"And... now we can't help the Great Song not to send troops to the north."

Hearing Wang Fu's words, Zhao Ji was a little puzzled, and asked, "What does Ai Qing mean?"

Wang Fu said: "Please send someone from the official family to fetch the map of Yanjing, and I will explain it to the official family."

Although he was full of doubts, Zhao Ji still asked his servant to fetch the map of Yanyun area.

After the map was unfolded by the servant, Wang Fu pointed to Yundi and said: "Li Yan is here now, Yunzhong Mansion, Shuozhou, Huanzhou, Yingzhou, and Weizhou are all occupied by him, and on the left is Xixia. Above it are the tribes of Mongolia, below it is the Hedong region of our Great Song Dynasty, and to the right are the Jurchen and the pseudo-Liao..."

Zhao Ji took a closer look at where Li Yan was, and was very happy!

From Zhao Ji's point of view, Li Yanxian is now surrounded by enemies with ten deaths and no survivors. What they envisioned by the monarchs and ministers has now been fully realized.

Wang Fu went on to say: "According to the news from Xue Sichang, after Li Yan captured the concubines of the Liao Lord, he took the Liao Lord's favorite Yuan concubine, six daughters of the Liao Lord and dozens of daughters of the Liao royal family Accepted as a concubine, and rewarded the rest of the Liao royal family's daughters to the officials and generals under him. For this alone, Li Yan and the Liao Lord must be in an endless situation. However, Li Yan's subordinates are still ineffective. He even taught Liao Lord and others to escape with their lives. After all, the Khitan family has been operating in Liao for hundreds of years. The centipedes are dead but not stiff. Son-in-law, all the Mongolian tribes are still subject to the Liao Lord, and whether it is the Xixia or the Mongolian tribes, there are strong soldiers and strong generals, especially the Xixia, our Great Song has fought against it for decades, but we have not been able to defeat it. Recover, with them in the northwest of Li Yan, Li Yan will continue to fight with the west and the north, and there will never be peace..."

Hearing what Wang Fu said, Zhao Ji not only envied Li Yan for seizing an emperor's wife and daughter to enjoy himself, but also despised Li Yan's barbaric behavior "really a rough man who doesn't know how to be romantic". After the Great Song Dynasty, Li Yan will always sink in the war, "Subduing the enemy without fighting is the highest state of the emperor's art... In the future, when Li Yan, Xixia, and Mongolia are all defeated, I will fight against you." The army regained Xixia and conquered Mongolia, and surpassed the emperor of Qin, Han, Wu and Tang, and became an emperor through the ages!"

Wang Fu said again: "The south of Li Yan is the Hedong region of our Song Dynasty. Here are the first-class dangerous passes in the world, such as Chenjiagu, Yanmen Pass, and Feihukou. There are also fortresses that our Song Dynasty has operated for decades. The terrain in the Hedong area is dangerous, and we have the strongest western army in the Song Dynasty to assist in the defense. Even if Li Yan has an army of 30, it is absolutely impossible for him to come back from Hedong..."

Zhao Ji's mood became more joyful, as if he had seen Li Yan's miserable state of being trapped to death in the cloud.

But at this moment, Wang Fu's tone changed, and he said in a deep voice, "However, it's not like Li Yan has no way out."

Zhao Ji frowned upon hearing this!
Wang Fu continued: "Officials, come and see."

Zhao Ji looked in the direction Wang Fu pointed, and saw that Wang Fu was pointing at Yanshan Mountain.

Wang Fu said: "The land of Yanjing is fertile and wild for thousands of miles. It is bounded by mountains in the north. There are many mountains and barriers. There are five passes in the middle. You can drive a cart and go through it. Songting (southwest of Kuancheng County, Hebei Province), Jinpo (later) That is, Zijing Pass, in Yi County, Hebei Province in later generations) and Gubei Pass are only accessible to people and horses, and vehicles are not allowed. Outside there are eighteen small roads, all of which are rabbit paths and bird paths, which can only pass people, not horses. If the land of Yanjing can be With the recovery of our Great Song Dynasty, and supplemented by the elite soldiers and powerful generals of our Great Song Dynasty, it is naturally impossible for Li Yan to cross Yanshan Mountain. But now the puppet Liao Dynasty of Yeluchun is occupying Yanjing. This regime is already in jeopardy. If our Song Dynasty does not send troops to recover Yanjing first, then Yanjing will definitely be occupied by the Jurchen in the north or Li Yan in the west..."

After Zhao Ji digested it for a while, Wang Fu said again: "If Yanjing is occupied by Li Yan, then the officials you planned before will be wasted. What I am most worried about, what I am most worried about, is that Li Yan and the Jurchens will form an alliance, or if Li Yan surrenders to the Jurchens, in that case, our Great Song Dynasty may be in danger!"

After hearing Wang Fu's words, Zhao Ji quickly looked at the map!

The more he looked, the more frightened Zhao Ji became!
After a long time, Zhao Ji raised his head to look at Wang Fu, and asked, "What is Aiqing's countermeasure?"

Wang Fu said: "First, no matter what, Li Yan cannot be allowed to form an alliance with the Jurchens. We should continue to implement the alliance with the Jurchens, even if we pay some price."

Zhao Ji asked: "Don't we have a covenant with the Jurchens?"

Wang Fu can't always say: "We have a covenant with the Jurchens, but you, the old man, will implement it if you are happy, and will not implement it if you are not, and you will detain the envoy for more than eight months. Whoever puts it on it will be yours." Is the old man breaking off ties with him?"

Wang Fu can only say: "Before this, we have been saying to the outside world that Li Yan is a courtier of our Great Song Dynasty. Now that Li Yan has a conflict with the Jurchens, the Jurchens will naturally want to settle this account on our Great Song Dynasty. body."

After hearing this, Zhao Ji said, "It's Li Yan, the rebellious minister again, he is simply the number one minister in the ages!"

After being angry for a while, Zhao Ji said: "Go and tell the Jurchens that Li Yan is not a courtier of our Great Song Dynasty, but a rebellious minister. Ask the Jurchens to help get rid of Li Yan, and they will accept the conditions."

As long as there is the tone set by Zhao Ji, other things are actually easy to handle, nothing more than the exchange of interests and compromise.

Wang Fu said again: "What about recovering Yanjing?"

Zhao Ji asked without answering, "Is the time ripe now?"

Wang Fu replied: "I think the time is ripe. If you don't act again, the Great Song Dynasty may be in danger."

Zhao Ji asked again: "If you send troops to the Northern Expedition, who should lead the troops?"

Wang Fu replied: "In terms of military affairs, I think it's better to ask Taishi Tong to take control. Looking at all the ministers in the court, Taishi Tong is the only one who can lead so many troops."

Zhao Ji didn't expect Wang Fu to recommend Tong Guan, he thought: "Isn't there a conflict between the two of them?"

How did Zhao Ji know that Wang Fu's suggestion to put Tong Guan in command was actually a result of the conflict and compromise between the two.

Shortly after Tong Guan conquered Fang La's triumphant return to Beijing, he was ordered to retire.

Tong Guan was almost seventy years old, he had been in the officialdom for decades, and had never encountered any situation, so it was easy to guess that he must have been shot in the back by Wang Fu.

Therefore, Tong Guan has a deep grudge against Wang Fu, and has been looking for opportunities to attack Wang Fu.

Once, Tong Guan met Wang Fu, and said unceremoniously to Wang Fu: "You are not the only one who likes the prime minister's power. You are not unaware of Cai Xianggong's ups and downs. It's not impossible to get the fourth phase reunion."

Hearing Tong Guan's words, Wang Fu didn't sleep well for several nights.

No one knows better than Wang Fu how powerful Cai Jing, who has been at the helm of the Song Dynasty for 20 years, is.

Moreover, although Cai Jing became an official, his power has not dissipated, and there are still many officials in the court who follow Cai Jing's leadership.

The same is true for Tong Guan. Although he is an official, he still has many followers.

Wang Fu was very afraid that Cai Jing and Tong Guan would unite to make Cai Jing reunite, and then he would lose the wealth in front of him.

Wang Fu thought for a few days and decided to compromise with Tong Guan.

One night, Wang Fu took advantage of the darkness and quietly came to Tong Guan to show his affection to Tong Guan, and promised that if there was a chance, he would ask Tong Guan to return to work and leave the mountain.

Tong Guan also agreed not to deal with Cai Jing's reunification.

Now there is Wang Fu's suggestion, and Zhao Ji really has no one more suitable than Tong Guan to lead the Northern Expedition, so Zhao Ji quickly ordered that Tong Guan be resigned from office and continue to serve as Xuanfu envoy of Shaanxi, Hedong and Hebei...

……

(End of this chapter)