Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 606 Ten No Matters (please subscribe!)

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"Regardless of Taiyuan, he was in charge of Taixue, in spite of Fangqiu, he was in charge of Spring and Autumn, in spite of Su Shi, he was in charge of Anshi, in spite of King Su, he was in charge of King Shu, in spite of Yanshan, he was in charge of Nieshan, in spite of Tokyo, he was in charge of Caijing, and in spite of Hebei, he was in charge of Juren Excuse me, don't care about Hedong but manage Chen Dong, don't care about the second prince but manage the prince."

This is currently the most popular "Ten No Matters" in Bianliang City, Tokyo, which shows the disappointment of the people in Tokyo to the imperial court.

And this disappointment is mainly due to Xu Churen and Wu Min, the current chief executives.

Before Xu Churen served as Dazai, he served as a left-behind in the Daming Mansion in Beijing, and he had a high social reputation.

Both Tai students and the people in the capital believed that Xu Churen was mature, upright, and rich in political experience. If he was appointed prime minister to assist the young Zhao Huan, he would definitely be able to make a difference.

Xu Churen served as Taizai from the beginning of March to the beginning of August, exactly five months.

These five months were a troubled time for the Song State, and it was also a critical period for the Song State to turn the crisis around.

Talismans from all over the country flew in like snowflakes, and it was urgent for the court to make a wise decision.

However, many complicated political, military, diplomatic and other issues made Xu Churen a little dizzy.

Although Xu Churen has experience in politics, he lacks the political foresight and wisdom needed to deal with national crises—his handling of a series of problems was either delayed or made major mistakes.

For example, in order to prevent the Jin people from invading again in autumn, Zhong Shidao suggested that all the troops be stationed in the Heyang area to defend the Yellow River defense line, but Xu Churen refused to accept it. He thought that since the Jin people had withdrawn, how could they come back?It is not advisable to disturb yourself first to show weakness.

It can be seen from this that his political vision is short and his political insight is weak.

It was Wu Min who recommended Xu Churen as prime minister to Zhao Huan.

Wu Min felt that he was young and had relatively low qualifications, and worried that he would not be able to control the current troubled situation in the court, so he recruited talents and made a big splash.

When Xu Churen first came to the imperial court, he had relatively consistent views with Wu Min and Li Gangzheng, and their cooperation was smooth.

But then there were serious differences between Xu Churen and Wu Min.

Wu Min was young and vigorous, and had little experience in dealing with political affairs. When the staff submitted various military and political documents to him for instructions, he was at a loss as to how to punish him. He just said, "It's still a rule."

Xu Churen was very uncomfortable with Wu Min's incompetence and love to seize power. In addition, Wu Min changed from the previous main battle to the main peace, and Xu Churen regarded him as a traitor. Therefore, the two began to fight openly and secretly.

Slowly, the relationship between Xu Churen and Wu Min became worse and worse. Every time they held a meeting, the two would slander and tear each other down.

Wu Min once recommended several officials to the Ministry of Officials, including his own relatives.

When Xu Churen reviewed the list, he unceremoniously crossed off the names of Wu Min's relatives.

Wu Min angrily came to Dongfu (that is, Dutang) to discuss the list with Xu Churen.

But the two talked a few words before they started arguing fiercely.

At that time, Xu Churen was drafting documents with a brush.

In a fit of anger, Xu Churen threw the brush towards Wu Min, hitting Wu Min's forehead so that Wu Min's lips and nose were blackened.

This matter spread quickly inside and outside the court, and the influence was very bad.

Tang Ke, Geng Nanzhong, and Nie Shan had long wanted to oust Xu Churen and Wu Min and replace them.

Therefore, they immediately seized this matter and took the opportunity to instruct Yushi Zhongcheng Li Huishangzuo to impeach Xu Churen and Wu Min.

Li Hui said:
"Xu Churen, the Taizai, was reused because of Cai Jing's recommendation. Since he retired from the Jin Dynasty, His Majesty promoted him to Taizai because of his ability to govern the country. However, his equipment is ordinary, he doesn't know the general situation, his knowledge is dull, and he doesn't know the time. Changing, completely unable to lead a hundred officials. Shaozai Wu Min, is actually Cai Jing’s best friend. He is in phase, and he follows Cai Jing, intending to monopolize power and maintain favor. Xu Churen and Wu Min are at odds, which makes the world’s affairs worse and worse. Today, Jin The people are rampant, the army is overwhelming, the soldiers in the east of the river are short of food, and the world is worrying day by day. Xu Churen and Wu Min have wronged the country and owed their favor, and the crime is unforgivable. Your Majesty Fu Wang urgently puts down the two traitors, don't try to use them."

The few months when Xu Churen and Wu Min were in power were indeed a very important period. The Song Dynasty court should have seized the opportunity to make overall strategic arrangements and actively make various preparations to deal with the Jin people's southward invasion again. Make various plans, including the plan for the emperor to withdraw from the capital in due course.

However, Xu Churen and Wu Min didn't pay enough attention to the urgent need of border defense, and couldn't deal with it properly, wasting a great opportunity for nothing.

Wu Min also suggested that scholars should add a "Spring and Autumn" course, and said that Wang Anshi's "Three Classics and New Meanings" were all heresies, etc., which were not the priority at that time.

In addition, Xu Churen and Wu Min gave Zhao Huan this bad idea through Xiao Zhonggong's instigation against Yelu Yujian.

As prime ministers, Xu Churen and Wu Min are indeed incompetent. At least, with their talents, they cannot be the prime ministers of the Song Dynasty in this chaotic period, and they can't steer this big ship that is about to sink.

Soon, Tang Ke, Geng Nanzhong, Nie Shan and others who moved to Xu Churen and Wu Min took power—Tang Ke was promoted to Shaozai because there was no Taizai (Zhang Bangchang, who was a hostage in Jinying, was a nominal Dazai). It belongs to the prime minister.Nie Shan knew the affairs of the Privy Council.Geng Nanzhong is Shang Shu Zuo Cheng.

The new prime minister, Tang Ke, was a Jinshi in the first year of Zhezong Shaosheng. He had successively served as county captain, magistrate, transfer judge and other local officials.

He started from the grassroots and was gradually promoted to the central court.

In May of the first year of Xuanhe, the city of Tokyo was submerged by storm water, and the situation was very critical. Tang Ke, who was then Minister of the Household Department, was ordered to control the flood.

Some people suggested that the south embankment be broken to relieve the flood in Miyagi.

Tang Ke opposed this kind of harm to the people. He said: "When the water rises and the dikes are damaged and the residents are submerged, there is nothing to do. If we decide to submerge them now, it will be fish and turtles for our people."

Regardless of personal safety, Tang Ke took a small boat to investigate the facts of the storm on the spot, in order to make the best use of the situation.

Finally, the golden embankment was broken and the storm water was poured into the Yellow River.

In less than half a month, the water in the capital receded, and Zhao Ji praised Tang Ke greatly: "The ancestral temple and society are safe, and the power of Qing is also there."

This flood control shows that Tang Ke has a certain courage and ability to solve crisis incidents.

When the Jin army came to Tokyo for the first time, Tang Ke served as Zhizhou in Hangzhou.

Li Bangyan recommended him to return to Beijing as a member of the Privy Council, hoping that he could participate in military decision-making.

After he returned to Beijing, Zhao Huan decided to reuse him and directly appointed him as the Minister of Zhongshu.

At that time, the ministers were keen to discuss the political affairs during the Xuanhe period, and devoted themselves to exposing and criticizing the "six thieves", hoping to reform the current problems and bring order out of chaos.

Tang Ke didn't take this seriously. He said to Zhao Huan: "The current problems of reform should be carried out gradually. Today's border affairs are very urgent, so we should discuss the border affairs first. The speaker ignores the general situation, entangles in the past, and wants to get angry for a while. Is it hurting the heart of the Supreme Daojun? Cai Jing, Cai You, Wang Fu, and Tong Guan have already been dismissed, so let’s do it for the time being. The future affairs are settled, and then I will tell the king, please issue an edict, and tell the world If we abandon it together, who will say no?"

It can be said that Tang Ke saw it very accurately at this time.

Zhao Huan also felt that Tang Ke was very knowledgeable, so after removing Xu Churen and Wu Min as prime ministers, he worshiped Tang Ke as the young prime minister.

Zhao Huan has high hopes for Tang Ke, hoping that he will be as brave and responsible as he was when he was in water control, and dare to take responsibility to save the current situation.

The imperial court then formed a new team with Tang Ke as the prime minister. The other members of the team were: He Li as the Minister of Zhongshu, Geng Nanzhong as the Zuocheng of the Shangshu, Chen Guoting as the Youcheng of the Shangshu, Li Gangzhi the Privy Council (only in name), Nie Chang (Zhao Huan's name changed to Nie Shan) was acquainted with the affairs of the Privy Council.

The new team with Tang Ke as the prime minister still has great differences in their judgments and countermeasures on the situation at this time, and they are still arguing endlessly.

When Nie Changgang took office, he opposed the cession of land and negotiated peace. He was very confident in defeating the Jin people, so Zhao Huan ordered Nie Chang to take full charge of military affairs and act cheaply.However, after a short period of time, Nie Chang saw that the officers and troops in Hedong had been defeated repeatedly, so he changed his view and agreed to negotiate a peace.

Geng Nanzhong, who had won the trust of Zhao Huan, advocated peace talks from beginning to end.He advocated following the method of the Battle of Chanyuan, using taxes from the three towns to redeem the land of the three towns in exchange for peace between the two countries.If the golden man disagrees, he must reluctantly cede the land and sue for peace.In his view, war means death.

He Li, who was famous in the ruling and opposition parties for bringing down Wang Fu, firmly opposed the cession of land for peace. He said: "Three towns, the foundation of the country, how can we abandon them once they are abandoned? What's more, the Jin people are unpredictable, and they must be trusted if they can be guaranteed? It will come if you cut it, and it will come if you don’t cut it!"

After Tang Ke reviewed the situation, he finally chose to negotiate a peace.

But Zhao Huan is still the same, war and peace are uncertain, and there will be wars and peace.

At this critical moment, the whole country of Song was unable to form a unity. As a result, the whole country of Song was even more chaotic.

In such an environment, even if you want to do something, it is difficult to do it.

Take Li Gang as an example.

After Li Gang was pushed out of the court by Wu Min and others, he wanted to train an elite army to fight the Jin army.

But the imperial court directly commanded the generals of the armies to let them fight through Li Gang, and then they were defeated, which made Li Gang disheartened!
Li Gang stayed in Huaizhou passively, holding back his troops and talking every day with his staff Zou Bing and Zhang Mu.

If the generals want to report to Li Gang, they must first ask Zou Bing and Zhang Mu for instructions.

Therefore, the soldiers complained about Li Gang.

Later, Wu Min was dismissed, and people in the court said that Wu Min was a member of the Cai family and Cai Youan's confidant in the court.

This made Li Gang unacceptable.

Li Gang believes that it must be Tang Ke, Geng Nanzhong, and Nie Chang who fabricated the facts and turned black and white to deceive Zhao Huan.

At the same time, Li Gang suddenly had an ominous premonition that he might follow in Wu Min's footsteps in the near future.

Therefore, Li Gang, who had already lost his interest, had already made up his mind to go.

When Li Gang was in the court, he was not only different from Tang Ke, Geng Nanzhong, Nie Chang and other prime ministers, but they were also incompatible in many ways.

Therefore, instead of being ordered to dismiss from office, it is better to resign on your own initiative.

However, Zhao Huan did not approve of Li Gang's resignation.

Li Gang didn't give up. He continued to play, repeatedly complaining that he was not qualified for the job. He also said that he had recently suffered from a coma.

In Li Gang's memorial, he also specifically mentioned Zhao Huan's words before his bed.

At the beginning, Li Gang didn't want to be the envoy of Hedong Xuanfu to lead the army to rescue Taiyuan, because he felt that he didn't know the soldiers and was not qualified for this position.

But Zhao Huan didn't want Li Gang to be the leader, he had to let Li Gang go, and Wu Min, who had switched from the main combat faction to the main peace faction at that time, also wanted to kick Li Gang, who was the main combatant, out of the court.

Therefore, Li Gang reluctantly accepted the post of Hedong Xuanfu envoy.

But before leaving Beijing, Li Gang and Zhao Huan had an agreement.

In order for Li Gang to serve as the Xuanfu envoy of Hedong and lead the troops to rescue Taiyuan, Zhao Huan once recruited Li Gang to his bed and promised Li Gang: "You can return to the court after you have inspected the border defense for me."

Li Gang asked: "If the court's decision is not firm, the minister should ask to resign, and your majesty should clearly observe the loyalty of the minister so as to maintain the friendship between the monarch and the minister."

Now, the imperial court's foreign policy towards the Kingdom of Jin has changed from a war of resistance to a peace negotiation.

The "unstable resolution" that Li Gang worried about at the beginning has already appeared.

Zhao Huan was at a loss, so he had to agree to Li Gang's request, and ordered Zhong Shidao to patrol the border as a member of the Privy Council, went to Huaiyang, and handed over the post of Xuanfu to Li Gang. Preparations for shore patrol and defense.

After receiving the edict, Li Gang left Huaiyang and returned to Beijing.

But just as Li Gang went to Fengqiu (later Fengqiu, Henan), he suddenly got a letter from Shangshu Sheng, saying that the emperor had a decree to appoint him as a scholar of Guanwendian and know Yangzhou, so that he could go directly to Yangzhou to take up his post without returning to Beijing.

There is a reason why Zhao Huan suddenly changed his mind and refused to let Li Gang return to Beijing.

Because the current Song Dynasty has become a mess, and the government orders and accusations are so chaotic that the city of Taiyuan was lost for a month before Zhao Huan got the news.

Zhao Huan believed that this was caused by Li Gang's unfavorable rescue, and Li Gang did not report it in time.

The wall fell and everyone pushed, plus Li Gang's faction fell again, plus repeated defeats, the war was no longer realistic, so some people began to impeach Li Gang, who was the main battler.

Liu Jue, from Zhongshushe, said that Li Gang was light-hearted and stubborn, and he was stubborn and self-responsible. Is it to show punishment?
If what Liu Ye said had a little truth, then what the other minister said obviously distorted the facts and had other plans.

The minister listed Li Gang's top ten crimes in the memorial, which directly set off a wave of exposing and criticizing Li Gang.

To put it simply, the man accused Li Gang of being incompetent and a partisan of the Cai clan. It is not good for Taiyuan to rescue Taiyuan by paying the envoy with wax books.

Many of the things that man said were what Zhao Huan advocated, and some of them had nothing to do with Li Gang at all, so they were all blamed on Li Gang.

Zhao Huan actually knew this very well, but he still decreed to remove Li Gangzhi from his post in Yangzhou and order him to go to Hangzhou to promote Hangzhou Dongxiao Palace as a scholar of Guanwendian.

But the ministers of the Song Dynasty were still not satisfied, and continued to expose and criticize Li Gang.

To be honest, many of these accusations against Li Gang are actually based on facts.

But some situations are not controlled by Li Gangneng.

No matter from the perspective of strategic deployment or battlefield command, Song State's military is currently in chaos, a mess, and a mess.

Now, the ministers of the Song Kingdom have all blamed Li Gang for this chaos, as if they wanted Li Gang to take the blame for everything.

Zhao Huan knew that Li Gang was wronged, but Zhao Huan saw that there were too many people impeaching Li Gang, and that it was not good for Li Gang to rescue Taiyuan, so he ordered Li Gang to be removed from all positions, and only mention Hangzhou Dongxiao Palace; Resigned and sent elsewhere.

However, the ministers of Song State were still not satisfied with this.

They continued to expose and criticize Li Gang, and they collected Li Gang's top ten crimes again.

Zhao Huan compromised again, and ordered Li Gang to be the deputy envoy of Baojing Army Jiedu, and he was placed in Jianchang Army (now Nancheng, Jiangxi).

Li Gang refused to accept it, and wrote a letter to distinguish the snow, but was violently attacked by his officials.

Zhao Huan made another decree to place Li Gang in the farther Ningjiang Army (now Fengjie, Chongqing).

……

(End of this chapter)