Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 500 Li Yan Must Reverse (Please Subscribe!)
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After confirming that Ma Kuo had no intention of surrendering at all, Li Yan knew that his relationship with Ma Kuo as a monarch and minister had not yet come, so he asked Ma Kuo and the others who were unwilling to stay in Yundi to drive back with a carriage full of heads. up.

After Ma Kuo and others drove the carriage back to Xiongzhou, they learned that Tong Guan and Cai You were no longer in Xiongzhou, but in Hejian Mansion.

It turned out that Cai You really didn't dare to stay on the front line of Xiongzhou, so he saved Tongguan and retreated to the relatively safe Hejian Mansion.

Tong Guan considered that even if he went north for the second time, he would need to regroup the army, so he agreed.

Ma Kuo and others drove the carriage to Hejian Mansion again.

When Cai You saw the hundreds of heads, his face turned pale with fright, and he said, "Why is Li Yan so hostile?"

Tong Guan said: "No matter how hostile Li Yan is, he will not attack you, Cai Gong. Aren't you friends with him?"

Cai You said: "So what? Would Cai You abolish the public with private interests?"

Tong Guan and Cai You have actually gotten along pretty well recently.

In addition, Tong Guan's current situation is very bad, maybe he will use the favored Cai You.

Therefore, Tong Guan said with a smile: "Cai Gong doesn't need to be like this, a certain family knows that you will not use your personal interests to abolish the public, and a certain family just envies your friendship with Li Yan. Speaking of which, Cai Gong, you really know how to deal with people. Li Yan is so difficult to get along with, and I have to sell you three points."

Cai You was a little complacent, and said: "The communication between people is more expensive than one..."

Cai You suddenly realized that what Tong Guan said might be a trap, so he immediately changed his words: "Actually, I don't know Li Yan that well either."

Seeing Cai You's vigilance is so strong, Tong Guan felt a little resentful, so he stopped talking to Cai You, but looked at Ma Kuo, and said, "Tell me about your experience during this trip."

Ma Kuo didn't speak, but gave Tong Guan the memorial "On You Can't Let Li Yan Enter the Pass" he wrote on the road-Ma Kuo hoped that Tong Guan could pass this memorial to Zhao Ji.

The first sentence in the memorial: Li Yan must rebel!

The second sentence is: Li Yan has already called the official family and Taizu by the name of the official family and the Taizu, and his rebellion is obvious!

The third sentence is: Liangshan's army is united and invincible, so Li Yan must not be allowed to enter the pass!
Ma Kuo later said in his memorial that the key to not allowing Li Yan to enter the pass was that the Song army should go north quickly to capture Yanjing before Li Yan, and then hoard heavy troops in Juyong Pass, Zijing Pass, Daoma Pass and other dangerous places. Trapping Li Yan in Yundi and not letting him out, there are only less than one million soldiers and civilians in Yundi. Even if Li Yan has the talent to manage the world, he can't do anything in Xiaoyundi. In this way, the border can be stable, and the Song Dynasty can be Keep it safe, otherwise, there will be endless troubles.

In addition, Ma Kuo asked the imperial court to remove him from the post of envoy and let him lead ten thousand infantry and cavalry to be the vanguard army to pacify Yanjing.

After seeing it, Tong Guan shook his body and said, "Is the Liangshan Army really that strong?"

Ma Kuo said in a deep voice: "The Liangshan army is definitely the first-class strong army in the world. I think the reason why the Liao, Xixia, and Mongolian allied forces were defeated by the Liangshan army was not because they were weak, but because the Liangshan army was strong. Song should send troops as soon as possible."

Tong Guan was silent for a while, and said: "The officials have already called Liu Yanqing back to Beijing. I believe it will not be long before our Great Song Dynasty will raise its troops to the north again."

……

In mid-August, Zhao Ji issued an edict to appoint Liu Yanqing, the chief inspector Fu Heyang Sancheng Jiedu, as the capital of the Northern Expedition Army, Liu Guangshi, the observation envoy of Yaozhou, and He Guan, the capital of the Infantry Division, as the deputy commanders. They sent 20 troops to recover Yan Beijing.

The imperial court decided to send troops to the Northern Expedition again, causing the court to stir up trouble again—there were those who supported it and those who opposed it, and everyone talked about it.

In fact, ever since Zhao Liangsi offered his advice, the high-level debate in Song State about recovering Yanyun has never been interrupted.

Tong Guan, Cai Jing, Wang Fu, etc. are supporters, Deng Xunwu, Zheng Juzhong, Li Bangyan, etc. are opponents, and Zhao Ji is completely based on his mood. It can be said that he comes out as he wants. The issue of the sixteen states is always repeated.

Later, Cai Jing's attitude towards regaining Yanyun suddenly changed, becoming very inactive.

And Zhao Ji became firm because of various reasons.

Therefore, Zhao Ji thought that Cai Jing was old, so he replaced Wang Fu, who knew him better, as prime minister.

Now, the ministers have started a heated debate about the right and wrong of sending troops to the north.

In order to unify the mind and avoid disturbing the morale of the army and the people, under Wang Fu's repeated requests, Zhao Ji issued a stern edict: Anyone who discusses this matter indiscriminately will be punished without pardon!

Most of the ministers were shocked and kept silent.

However, the relaxed political environment of the Song Dynasty still made some bold people jump out to oppose it.

Like Zhao Sanlang Song Zhao.

He gave Zhao Ji a fierce memorial, opposing the Northern Expedition.

In his memorial he said:

Since your majesty came to the throne, the art of imperial combat is really the best policy. The Liao envoys came and rewarded them with banquets. The bow died, and the people of Guizhou and Li sang songs with drumming.

Over the past three generations, I have been ecstatic and convincing, with sincerity and sincerity, nothing like today, it is a grand event in the world of peace.

For example, Wang Fu and Tong Guanli attracted the disciples of Li Liangsi and Dong Pang'er, who were born madly, to engage in border affairs indiscriminately, causing troubles and worries, sending ministers to raise heavy troops, and stationing them for a long time. There are countless.

Wealth can still be recovered, so how can the dead be brought back to life?
Wang Fu and Tong Guan have deceived the emperor and harmed the people. The crime is unforgivable. I am willing to cut off the heads of these people to thank the world, not only to comfort the hearts of the people of Yan, but also to make them know your Majesty's virtue, so that they will no longer be suspicious and stick to the alliance. Well, it can also punish the rest of the treacherous ministers and thieves who carelessly engage in border affairs.

Li Liangsi and Dong Pang'er were both traitors of the Northern Court, with resentment in their hearts, so they attached to the border ministers and fabricated false rumors, trying to fake the power of China, so as to avenge their personal enemies.
Today's Nuzhen is brave and good at fighting, sweeping across the northern kingdom, Li Yan's traitors, grabbing the entire territory of Yundi, and defeating the ten-year cavalry of Liao, Xixia, and Mongolia. Tang is adjacent to the two, what tactics will be used to defend them?

It may not be a blessing for China to destroy a weak country and become neighbors with two powerful countries, but it will only benefit Jurchen and Li Yan.

The minister also heard of the alliance between the two countries, and the loser will harm the nine clans. Your Majesty treats the world with filial piety. Will he bear to forget the spirit of the saints in heaven?

Your Majesty has overwhelmed the world with benevolence, but is he willing to put the people of Hebei in a state of misery?
Zhao Ji was so angry after reading Song Zhao's memorial: "Song Zhao, a madman, actually uttered disrespectful words. I just made a decree not to speak indiscriminately. He dared to go against the wind. He is really audacious!"

Wang Fu hated Song Zhao so much that he gritted his teeth. He suggested to Zhao Ji: "Behead Song Zhao, kill one to warn others, kill chickens to show monkeys, and see who dares to be so arrogant and disrespectful!"

Zhao Ji was angry, but his mind was still calm. He said: "It's better not to kill a scholar. It's useless to kill him. He will be removed from the editorial management and the local officials will strictly control him."

Soon, Song Zhao was expelled from public office and escorted to Haizhou.

It should be said that Zhao Ji's appointment of 55-year-old Liu Yanqing as the capital commander of the Northern Expedition Army is somewhat reasonable.

First, Liu Yanqing was born in a family of generals, and has many years of actual combat experience. He fought against Tubo and Xixia several times in the Northwest, and was promoted to the post of general manager of Yanyan Road and deputy commander of the Ma Jun due to his accumulated military exploits.

Second, Liu Yanqing once had a very successful cooperation with Tong Guan, that is, the extermination of Tian Hu, Wang Qing, and Fang La, and Liu Yanqing served as the governor of the capital.

but--

This is just Zhao Ji's unilateral idea.

In fact, Liu Yanqing felt very complicated about being appointed as the governor of the capital this time.

On the one hand, he felt that this was an opportunity - if he could win this time by raising his troops to the north, then his prestige in the army would surpass that of a teacher, and he would become the number one commander in Song Dynasty.

On the other hand, he felt that this was a test—as a battle-tested general, he knew that the advantage of the Liao army lay in the cavalry. The Song army did not have strong cavalry, and relied solely on the flesh and blood of the infantry to fight against the gold and iron horses. , I am afraid it will be difficult to win.He felt that dealing with the Liao army was not as simple as dealing with Tian Hu, Wang Qing, and Fang La.Therefore, he warned himself that he must be careful and careful when sending troops to the north this time.Especially after he saw the soldiers and horses that Zhao Ji assigned him.

Some people may wonder, what kind of troops Zhao Ji assigned Liu Yanqing to make Liu Yanqing so worried?
It turned out that Zhao Ji felt that the troops going north were not enough, and asked Gao Qiu to draw 5 troops from the Central Forbidden Army to Liu Yanqing.

But among the forbidden army, all the troops that could be managed were taken by Gao Lian to attack Shuibo Liangshan, who would give Liu Yanqing any horses?
Therefore, Gao Qiu blamed the matter on the grounds that he was fighting on the front line at this time to Liang Fangping, the commander of the deputy capital of the Dianqian Division, his deputy.

After Liang Fangping received this hot potato, he passed it on to He Guan.

It took a lot of effort for He Guan to select [-] soldiers who were barely able to fight from the forbidden army, and temporarily recruited [-] new recruits from the vagrants (hooligans) in the capital, and then joined hands from Gao Qi and down, or Buying and selling, or relying on favors, stuffed thousands of related households to serve as military officers. Gao Qiu did not avoid his relatives. Not only did he stuff his two nephews into it as military officers, but he even made his son Huahua Taisui Gao Shide the supervisor of this army.

Liu Yanqing really didn't dare to think, how could such an army fight?

In fact, no one in this army has ever thought about fighting. They are here to build up the Song Dynasty's momentum, and by the way, to gain some military merits so that they can find a good job in the future. The Western Army and other troops will go to war. .

Zhao Ji didn't know the quality of the army he assigned to Liu Yanqing. Zhao Ji only knew that he assigned Liu Yanqing another 20 troops. In addition, with a wave of his hand, Zhao Ji transferred all the Hebei troops to the north, and hurriedly Forget it, he allocated [-] troops to Liu Yanqing.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of troops already at the border, as well as the township soldiers of Zhao Xu (Dong Panger), Zhang Guanyu and other rebels.

This time the Song Army had a total of 50 million people.

From the number of troops assigned to Liu Yanqing, it is not difficult to see that Zhao Ji placed great hopes on Liu Yanqing, and at the same time it is not difficult to see that Zhao Ji is bound to win Yanjing.

On this day, Zhao Ji received Liu Yanqing in Yanfu Hall.

Zhao Ji said: "During the pacification of Fangla, Liu Qing served as the governor of the capital and made great contributions. This time the Northern Expedition recovered Yanjing. After careful consideration, I decided to appoint Liu Qing as the governor of the capital again. I hope Liu Qing will continue to work hard and make new contributions."

Zhao Ji gave Liu Yanqing a banner, a golden gun, a royal robe, and a colorful belt.

At the same time, Zhao Ji also bestowed "Seven Treasures" on Liu Yanqing.

The "Seven Treasures" are: Gold, Silver, Liuli (gem), Pear (crystal), Tridacna (sea shell), Zhenzhu (coral bead) and amber.

Liu Yanqing knelt down to thank you, and said excitedly: "I bathe in the emperor's grace, and sincerely remember your majesty's teachings. I will go through fire and water, burn my body to pieces, and fertilize Yanshan with blood. I swear to plant the banner of the Great Song Dynasty on the head of Yanjing!"

If we say that when Zhao Ji sent troops for the first time in April this year, he didn't really want to go to war with Liao, he hoped to win without a fight.

So, Zhao Ji's thinking is quite different from the last time when sending troops this time—Zhao Ji hopes that the army will move for real this time, and use real swords and guns to take back Yanjing by force.

Therefore, Zhao Ji did not interfere with the guiding ideology of the operation and the specific military deployment - he hoped that Tong Guan and Liu Yanqing could play by ear and complete the strategic concept of recovering Yanjing, which their Great Song Dynasty had been planning for many years.

……

(End of this chapter)