The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Update time: 22--

The four of them retreated into the train and automatically moved their standing positions backwards. Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan were downgraded to the rank of fourth-rank Zhizhou, and could only stand near the entrance of the main hall.

Zhao Zhen sighed and said, "All my loves, what is the best way to deal with the Northwest matter? Now that the situation is tight, there is no need to talk big and empty words. Just tell the facts, what kind of countermeasures should be used next."

All the ministers were silent, and no one dared to express any opinions on such a major matter. Say less and make less mistakes, and more words and more mistakes. This is the official motto believed by many officials.

Zhao Zhen glanced over the faces of all the officials, whether fat or thin, young or old, and felt powerless for a while, and he couldn't blame these officials for protecting themselves wisely. The matter in the Northwest was indeed a difficult problem.

Yan Shu looked at Lu Yi's bamboo slips, and saw that he was sitting on the stool with eyes and nose, nose, nose, and heart, and he seemed to have no intention of speaking; seeing the emperor waiting for everyone to answer on the dragon throne, but no one answered, he seemed extremely embarrassed, couldn't bear it, so he stood up dequeue.

"Qizou Your Majesty, I believe that after this battle, the power of the enemy and ourselves will be out of balance, and we must make plans early, lest there will be changes later."

"Yan Aiqing has something to say, but it's okay to say it." Seeing Yan Shu come out to speak, Zhao Zhen felt a little more at ease. Yan Shu is not a person who likes to blow cannons. Although he is smooth, he has never made a foolish idea on major issues.

"Your Majesty, I think there are two things that must be done right now. One is to adjust the military strategy in the Northwest, and the other is to quickly mobilize troops to replenish our strength. We must not wait and see. Xixia's tiger-wolf heart and Yuanhao's tiger-wolf people cannot be expected Xiaosheng stopped."

Zhao Zhen frowned and said, "How to adjust the Northwest strategy?"

Yan Shu said: "It is not a minister who raises the prestige of others and destroys his own ambition. There is still a gap between the combat power of our Song soldiers and the soldiers of the Western Bandits. From the perspective of the advantages of the soldiers of both sides, the advantage of the Western Bandits lies in their strong cavalry, strong armor, Coming and going is really invincible, and our Song soldiers are strong in bows, arrows, carts and crossbows. The adjustment of this strategy should be based on how to use our strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses. There is no advantage at all in the land of lakes, but the battle is in the northwest, the Gobi is vast, the grasslands are vast, and the land of flat rivers is suitable for their cavalry; so it is unwise to go head-to-head."

Zhao Zhen said: "Does Aiqing mean that the previous aggressive strategy was wrong?"

Yan Shu said: "I can't say that, otherwise someone will say that I'm postponing. I don't have the same military insights as Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan. I think it's better for them to make adjustments."

Zhao Zhen looked at Yan Shu suspiciously, and then suddenly backed away after speaking well, asking Fan Zhongyan to make a statement, which was really strange.

Du Yan, Lu Yijian and others cursed inwardly: "Old fox, when it comes to the critical moment, you will shrink back, for fear that if you propose specific measures that will not work in the future, you will hurt yourself."

Yan Shu didn't take it seriously, he had always admired Fan Zhongyan, and planned to recommend him to the center as soon as the Northwest War was over, but he didn't expect to encounter such a thing as Hao Shuichuan's defeat. In fact, this defeat had little to do with Fan Zhongyan , but after all, he was punished, and if he wanted to promote him, he had to behave differently, so he asked Fan Zhongyan to propose a change in strategic thinking.

It is obvious that Fan Zhongyan's strategy of sticking to the counterattack will definitely work, because no matter from which point of view, this strategy is more secure, even if it is useless, it must be without fault. It is a credit, and it will be a matter of course to recommend him when the time comes.

Of course, there is also selfishness in this. Yan Shu mainly considers himself. If the strategy proposed does not work, someone will come to him to settle the score when the situation deteriorates in the future, so try to back down as much as possible and avoid proposing specific measures. The room for maneuver will be limited. bigger.

Yan Shu called the roll, and Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi were called to the front again. They hadn't noticed before, but when they were walking towards the throne from the gate of the palace, everyone noticed that Fan Zhongyan was a little staggering, as if walking was inconvenient.

Zhao Zhen asked: "Why are Fan Qing's legs not so good? I remember that you don't have any leg problems."

Fan Zhongyan hurriedly said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern, I have no illness."

Han Qi couldn't hold back and replied on his behalf: "Master Fan has been in the Northwest for a long time, eating and drinking with all the soldiers, more than ten places on his body have been bitten by poisonous insects and festered for more than ten days."

Zhao Zhen changed his face and said: "How could this be? Didn't you let the military doctor treat you?"

Fan Zhongyan's black and thin face twitched and said: "Your Majesty, the medicinal herbs in the army are limited. The soldiers, like the ministers, have many sores, and the ministers are better. Those soldiers are going to fight. How can I rob them?" The medicine will heal me, the emperor can rest assured that even a little scabies will not defeat the minister."

With a sad look on Zhao Zhen's face, he got up and walked down the dragon seat, came to Fan Zhongyan's side, and stretched out his hand to untie Fan Zhongyan's robe belt.

Fan Zhongyan hurriedly said: "Your Majesty can't, how can your majesty's holy eyes be polluted by this filthy disease?"

Without saying a word, Zhao Zhen stubbornly opened Fan Zhongyan's robe belt. Han Qi also helped, and opened the inner robe and trousers. He saw a shocking ulcer on Fan Zhongyan's thigh the size of three wine cups. His head was broken, pus and blood were sticking together, it was scary to look at.

The ministers sighed loudly, Zhao Zhen burst into tears, and sighed: "Fan Qing's patriotic heart can be seen from the three abscesses. With Fan Aiqing in the northwest, there is no place for the western thieves."

Fan Zhongyan prostrated himself on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

"After going to court later, I will ask the palace doctor to help Mr. Fan with medicine and cure the wound." Zhao Zhen wiped his tears and said to the servant.

The servant bowed and agreed, and Fan Zhongyan hurriedly said: "Why does the emperor bother, this is just a minor illness. If the emperor is concerned, why not send a batch of medicine to the front line to relieve the sickness of the soldiers."

Zhao Zhen said: "Yan Aiqing, can you gather a batch of medicinal materials and send them to the northwest?"

Yan Shu hesitated for a while, then nodded and said, "I will try my best to do it myself, the emperor can rest assured."

Zhao Zhen nodded, sat back on the Dragon Throne and asked: "Fan Aiqing, get up, what strategy do you have to defend the northwest frontier and prevent the situation from getting worse, let me and all the adults listen to it."

Fan Zhongyan immediately cheered up, stood up and said: "Obey, I just heard what Master Yan said about the comparison of the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, and I feel very sorry for him. What Master Yan said is exactly what I worry about day and night. The best way to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses is to fight steadily, not engage in field battles with the enemy, build a fortress and earthen city step by step, defend the city with bows and crossbow carts inside, and set up pits to resist horses outside. Loss: Although Yuan Hao is stupid, brave and brave, how can his Xixia native Ding Cai's strength be the same as my Song's, as long as he suffers a few losses, the arrogance of the bandits will definitely be extinguished, but the situation will be stable."

Lu Yijian said coldly: "According to this way of fighting, how can we recover Hulan, Zhenrong and other counties occupied by bandits?"

Fan Zhongyan said loudly: "Under such a situation, the most important thing is to stabilize the position. At this time, it is a joke to think about regaining lost ground."

Lu Yijian said: "If you can't regain the lost land, can you follow your method and let me be enslaved by the Western thieves and humiliated by the people of Zhanzhou County?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "At present, we can only stabilize the situation. Xu Tu regained it. Lu Xiangruo wants to step down and regain the lost ground immediately. I am sorry that the lower level has no good strategy. The lower level is not a general chatterer. One is one and two is two. What can be done is Those who can do it and those who can’t do it will never speak nonsense.”

Du Yan shouted: "Presumptuous, you and Lu Xiang are talking like this? Are you saying that Lu Xiang is just talking empty talk?"

Lu Yijian secretly scolded Du Yan for being an idiot. No one could hear the sting in Fan Zhongyan's words.

Zhao Zhen was eager to listen to the following, how could he say these meaningless words at this time, coughed, and said with a cold face: "Lv Aiqing, Du Aiqing don't talk too much, I still have something to ask."

Lu Yijian and Du Yan had no choice but to shut up. Although the emperor is kind, the emperor is not a doll who can be manipulated by others. You can know how scheming the emperor is from the tearful sore just now; The emperor when the curtain is drawn down', Lu Yijian suddenly sighed.

"Fan Aiqing, although the strategy of sticking to it is good, what Lu Xiang said is also reasonable. When will this strategy recover the occupied counties of the Great Song Dynasty? Is there any follow-up consideration?"

"Your Majesty, the minister just said that this strategy has been successful for a long time. If I build a city and reject it, I can defend against the enemy and settle the people who have fled back. Although the western thieves occupy several states, but where there are no people, it is an empty city. What is the use of one? Just stick to it for a year, and it will have a miraculous effect."

"I don't understand what you mean." Zhao Zhen was also seeking truth from facts.

"Your Majesty, the western thieves rely on water and grass to live, raise horses, herd cattle, sheep, fish and hunt, rice cannot grow in the northwest, and Yuan Hao and Khitan are not neighbors at all. How can he have the financial resources and manpower to support the long-term war; and he can't use the whole country. The soldiers went south to attack me, because he still had to guard against the greed of the hungry wolf in the Khitan country, so we can draw a conclusion: the purpose of the western thieves attacking me was not to occupy the barren states in the northwest, but to plunder and make It is beneficial; once this plan comes to fruition, he has no choice but to retreat. The meaning of the minister's method is not to defend, but to use the defense to drag Yuan Hao down and let him retreat automatically; my Song Dynasty has a vast territory, southeast The rice barn, one year's harvest can be used as food for several years, if it is consumed, how can the western thieves be the enemy of our Song Dynasty."

After hearing Fan Zhongyan's words, everyone nodded and discussed, feeling that it made sense, Lu Yijian's beard was about to stand up in anger, and said in his heart: "The old man asked you just now, and you reasoned that there is no way, now the emperor asks, you agree Tell the whole story, make it clear that you will not give the old man face, and let you be frivolous, how can the old man allow you to be so contemptuous."

It was only at this time that Zhao Zhen's heart fell into his stomach. Although Fan Zhongyan's method was somewhat conservative, it was absolutely effective. As long as he could stop the northwestern wolf and ensure that his ancestor's foundation would not be encroached upon by others, he would be satisfied.