The new era of chaos begins in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 315 See you again

Military command ability is a very mysterious thing, and it does not have a unified standard template.

A wise man can do it, and a fool can do it too.

However, among smart people there are those who become famous generals, and there are also those who are useless.

Except for a few lucky ones with strong personalities, most of the fools can only exist as cannon fodder on the battlefield.

Cui Ye was a smart man. He was well-read in poetry and literature, and he was a formal imperial examination scholar. He was chosen by He Zhizhong as an army protector, so he was indeed a talented person with great talents.

However, this guy also has the common problem of most scholars. He is wise but not brave, and has difficulty facing life and death. He was crippled by two dogs who frightened him on the battlefield.

In fact, Ergou is not a qualified military commander. Many times he sees certain problems, but ends up not knowing how to mobilize his troops.

When there are thousands of people, the ground reaches the sky. This is a completely different concept from Ergou's command and mobilization of dozens or even hundreds of guards in the past.

Fortunately, the biggest advantage of Ergou compared to Cui Ye is that he is brave and dares to take the lead in the charge.

Of course, Ergou didn't want to shoot this guy to death with a short spear, but since he lost the talent of [Shilai Tiandi], Ergou found that his long-range shooting accuracy began to plummet.

Whether it's throwing, archery or crossbows, the accuracy has dropped to an anxious level.

For example, Ergou fired three shots at Cui Ye, but they all missed Cui Ye very accurately, and missed the passenger car three times in a row.

Ergou's command level is not good, but he knows how to assess the situation. For example, when most of the soldiers of the Song Army began to lose their will to fight, he began to take the lead in shouting "surrender without killing" to lead his men to use force to persuade the Song Army to surrender.

And these Song soldiers did not have a strong desire to fight to the death. After all, both sides were Han Chinese of the same language and race, and there was no deep hatred. Moreover, the reputation of the rebels was mostly known to them, so why bother fighting for some high-ranking officials who did not know what they were talking about? And those who are beaten to death.

Then the Song army soldiers threw away their weapons one after another and surrendered to the rebels one after another.

And Cui Ye couldn't run away, because Ergou had been following his trail. Even though this guy was about to escape on horseback, Ergou intercepted him and became a prisoner of the rebels.

Originally, Ergou could have killed him with one blow, but these courageless scholars were basically idiots who failed to achieve anything but failed. It would be useless to kill them, so it would be better to leave them to the great calligraphers for fun.

When Ergou returned to the Meiling camp with soldiers and horses escorting the prisoners, the drama in Zhao'an had come to an end for the time being.

The next thing the leaders have to do is to reorganize the rebel army and announce to the world that the Zhennan Rebel Army has changed its banner and returned to the embrace of the imperial court.

Of course, the most indispensable repertoire is to face the emperor and thank him for his kindness.

Then Wang Huan and others spent ten days reorganizing the army. Those who were willing to continue to serve as soldiers were given military membership in the Song Dynasty; those who were unwilling to continue to join the army were given more money, rice and food, and were sent back to their hometowns for resettlement.

In this way, the rebel army was organized into ten larger battalions, each with nearly 3,000 soldiers and horses, each composed of one general and two deputy generals.

After the army was reorganized, he dismantled the camp and headed north one by one.

However, the first to leave were the ten generals who received gold medals and red brocade rewards, including Wang Huan, Zhang Kai, Yang Wen, Han Cunbao, Xu Jing, Mei Zhan, Wang Wende, Xiang Yuanzhen, Jia Gan, Gu Zhengxi and others.

These ten people are all outstanding in martial arts, far superior to the other twenty silver lieutenants, and are the chief generals of the ten battalions.

In order to show their sincerity, and of course to reassure the court, the ten men only brought 500 personal guards, leaving the army behind and rushed to Bianliang City.

As for the remaining lieutenants, they have to move slowly with the army.

After waiting all the way through mountains and rivers, the ten leaders arrived at Bianliang City in only half a month, while the large group behind them had not even reached half of the distance.

This is not because the lieutenants are deliberately slowing down their pace, but because their army cannot increase or decrease its itinerary at will. They must follow the requirements of the military supervisor appointed by the imperial court. They must set out at what time every day, how far they must travel, and where to camp. A little room for autonomy.

But there is nothing we can do about it.

After all, they are nearly 30,000 elite troops who were just captured by the imperial guards. Last month, they were "burning, killing, and looting" thieves everywhere. Now they can march openly and openly in the hinterland of the Song Dynasty. If they can't be properly restricted, what kind of thieves will the Song Dynasty be? The officials couldn't be frightened for a while when they saw it.

However, Wang Huan and others who arrived in Beijing in advance did not go well.

A bandit leader without military power, even if he has been recruited by the court, is still a phoenix with no feathers, no better than a chicken.

Without a large army on their side, it would be difficult for Wang Huan and others to be taken seriously by the court officials.

Even if they have five hundred personal guards, they can't even make a splash in Bianliang City, which has a population of one million and an army of one hundred thousand.

Therefore, on the first day after arriving in Bianliang City, the ten leaders only went to the Yamen of the Ministry of War to record their birth certificates, and then went to the front office of the palace to receive their talisman certificates, and then they were let go.

There was no meeting with His Majesty in front of the palace, no one was paying homage to Tian Yan, no one was thanking the emperor for his kindness, but not a single trace was seen.

Even when he went to see Prime Minister Zeng Bu, he could not even enter the threshold of Zeng's mansion.

These reckless people don't know what's going on, so they feel anxious and anxious all day long.

Fortunately, among the ten people, there were three who were truly knowledgeable. Wang Huan was the successor of the famous general Wang Shao and had many old friends in the capital; Yang Wen was a descendant of a general and had an extraordinary family background, and his father-in-law, Leng Taiwei, was still alive.

The most terrifying one is Han Cunbao. His grandfather Han Qi once set an example for civil servants in the world. His uncle Han Zhongyan was the former prime minister of the dynasty. His uncle Han Jiayan was the princess of Qi State and was the Prince Consort. He could be called a member of the royal family.

Therefore, the Han family's connections in the government and the public were so intricate that Han Cunbao didn't even need to inquire about them. Officials close to the Han family secretly solved some doubts with Han Cunbao.

In fact, they were left to dry out. Perhaps the officials were busy with their daily affairs and did not take it into consideration. However, Prime Minister Zeng Bu deliberately tempered his character and made him aware of the seriousness and severity, so as to avoid being arrogant and arrogant and causing trouble.

The three leaders with backgrounds all had similar speculations about this. Some people from Han Cunbao's side came to clarify their doubts, so he shared the inside story with the other leaders. Although he could not completely eliminate everyone's doubts, it still helped. Let them calm down.

Few people know that Ergou also came to the capital hidden among the five hundred personal guards of the ten leaders.

In order to cover his eyes and ears, Ergou did not even say hello to the acquaintances Han Cunbao, Yang Wen and others, but secretly became the personal bodyguard of Jia Gan, who was not noticed among the ten leaders.

Jia Gan and Jia Jin, the leader of the rebel army who died in Nankang County earlier, are biological brothers. The two were born as hunters and had strong martial arts. reputation.

Due to the death of his brother Jia Jin, Jia Gan was regarded as the leader of the rebel army who had some objections to the recruitment. It was precisely to appease Jia Gan that everyone rewarded Jia Gan with a share of the gold medal and red brocade.

Jia Gan's bodyguards were very mixed, including men from the martial arts world, thieves and bandits who had fallen into disgrace earlier, and hunters and others who had attached themselves to thieves, that is, people from the army who had not surrendered. As for Ergou, who disguised himself as one of them and joined them, Jia Gan didn't even care. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he turned a blind eye.

Five hundred guards were placed in the Nanqingcheng area south of Bianliang City, and rented a temple as a residence.

The old monks in the temple were reluctant at first, but in the face of steel knives and piles of money, the monks finally chose to follow their hearts.

Not all the guards lived in the temple. Some of the guards who were closer to the leaders followed the ten leaders to live in the Guanyi in the city. There were also a few who admired the prosperity of Bianjing and had some money in their hands. Those who had spare money went to the inns in the city to enjoy themselves.

Ergou disguised himself and entered the city secretly.

However, after entering Bianliang City, Ergou was not in a hurry to meet anyone. Instead, he first learned about the situation in the capital.

To say that the most eye-catching event in the Song Dynasty Hall is undoubtedly the "Yuanyou Party Membership Stele" written by Zhao Guan's Emperor Huizong and engraved outside Duanli Gate a few days ago.

As soon as this monument came out, the whole world was in an uproar.

On the monument are the former prime ministers Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo, Lu Gongzu, Lu Dafang, Liu Zhi, Fan Chunren, Su Zhe and other important ministers of the time, as well as their former students and party members, a total of 117 people.

Moreover, Wei Zong issued an edict: The children of Sima Guang and others are not allowed to serve as officials in the capital; the children of party members are not allowed to enter the capital without permission; the portraits of Sima Guang and others that were hung in the Jinling West Palace were burned; the royal family is not allowed to have sex with the children of "Yuanyou party members" Intermarriage.

There are more than twenty officials listed in the monuments and serving in the court, including one Liubu Shangshu, three Liubu Ministers, and other officials with varying positions. Almost without any reason, they However, he lost his official position and was exiled to a remote military state.

This is a nightmare for a famous person, but it is also an official feast for the so-called "New New Party members" headed by Cai Jing.

What is a "new New Party member"?

Since Zhang Dun, the leader of the new party during the Zhezong Dynasty, was demoted to another state, Cai Jing returned to Beijing and was promoted to Youpuse, becoming the first person of the new party.

However, Cai Jing is not very popular in the entire new party system. The reason is that he has been very popular among the old and new parties in the past.

So Cai Jing took two steps.

First of all, he desperately grabbed the thigh of the current emperor, and wantonly made friends with officials and close servants such as Yang Jian, Tong Guan, Li Yan, etc., so that the admonisher Chen Niu couldn't stand it and wrote a letter to impeach Cai Jing. As a result, Chen Niu was convicted and dismissed, and Cai Jing He was also demoted to Jiangning, but he postponed his appointment until he aroused public outrage.

Because Chen Fu killed eight hundred enemies and lost one thousand, no one dared to impeach Cai Jing for befriending a servant.

Cai Jing's other side is to engage in internal strife in the new party, using the excuse of denying Zhang Dun to eliminate dissidents. However, those who are disrespectful and obedient to Cai Jing will often accuse Zhang Dun of being a member of the party to suppress and denounce him.

What was the crime for which Zhang Dun was reprimanded?

He despised Huizong and wanted to pursue and depose the Queen Mother Xuanren.

That is to say, Zhang Dun's contribution to the Song Dynasty was too great (Zhang Dun's reputation is not as good as that of Wang Anshi, the initiator and leader of the reform, but his actual effect on the Song Dynasty far exceeded that of Wang Anshi's period), otherwise it would be impossible for someone else to bear these two charges. They talk about confiscating the family and exterminating the clan, but they still have to go to Caishikou.

Looking at the fate of Zhang Taiyue, the future chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty, we know that it was really not easy for Zhang Dun to survive to Chongning for four years.

While Cai Jing was attacking the original old party, he was establishing a new branch in the new party and flaunting himself as the new party. Then a so-called "new new party" was branded on his forehead.

Of course this is just a joke.

Everyone in the world reviled Cai Jing, the proposer of the "Yuanyou Party Monument", but they did not know that this was a rogue method used by Cai Jing and Emperor Weizong to eliminate dissidents, especially to attack Zhang Dun's party members.

If we follow normal political methods, not to mention clearing out more than twenty important ministers at once, even if we only abolish one of the six ministers, it will take a lot of effort.

You see how convenient this technique is, just write a few names, and then attack them separately. Cleaning up those officials who don't like it is as easy as plucking a green onion.

Some people may ask, aren't there only some names of old party officials on the Yuanyou Party monument? It has nothing to do with Zhang Dun at all!

It’s superficial, isn’t it!

Who is going to start such a struggle and get into a big fight? Why don't we test out a few small skills, and when the time is right, we can make a final decision with a big move? !

After all, this [Yuanyou Party Member Monument] is not fixed. It will be easy to add a few more names in the next few editions.

The first version of the Yuanyou Party Monument was published more than a year later than the other timeline, and there were some changes in some of the lists on it. For example, Su Shi's name was not included.

However, this does not mean that Su Shi will not be affected by the [Yuanyou Party Monument] incident.

Because he is Su Che's elder brother and one of the party members' relatives.

Of course, the fundamental reason why Su Shi was not listed on the party monument was that Li Gefei, who was also the minister Zuopushe, was a student of Su Shi. Directly writing Su Shi's name on it was equivalent to being different from Li Gefei and what he represented. Political forces are at war head-on.

No matter how arrogant Cai Jing is, he would not dare to do this.

Only after Li Gefei resigned from the position could he no longer have any scruples.

In fact, Li Gefei's current situation can no longer be summed up by the word "difficult".

The prime ministers of the Song Dynasty were collectively referred to as prime ministers, such as Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (official prime minister), Shenzhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhizhi, Shangshuyoupushe,menxiashilang, etc. can all be called prime ministers.

Among them, there are two positions of minister, left and right servants. It has always been the responsibility of a single person, and it is almost never the case that two people hold the same position.

However, Song Weizong deliberately appointed Cai Jing as Minister Zuopushe without removing Li Gefei. In fact, they were deliberately humiliating Li Gefei and forcing him to be in a dilemma.

Why is Li Gefei said to be in a dilemma?

If Li Gefei wanted to keep his reputation and show that he was not greedy for power, he should have asked himself to serve outside when Cai Jing was appointed as Shangshu Zuopushe.

However, Song Weizong, Cai Jing and others deliberately leaked some inside information to Li Gefei. If he resigned as Minister Zuopshe, then Cai Jing and others would have no scruple to include Su Shi's name in the "Monument of Yuanyou Party Members".

It should be noted that Su Shi was already sixty-eight years old at this time, almost seventy years old, and he had been wandering on the road of being reviled for half his life. He was old and frail and sick. Now he was finally enjoying his old age for a few days with the support of Li Gefei.

If Cai Jing and his gang were to attack and denounce him again, they would let Su Shi die.

Therefore, Li Gefei did not dare to ask for resignation at all, so he could only force himself to stay in office.

However, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty would not sympathize with Li Gefei's difficulties. They would only think that Li Gefei was greedy for power and obsessed with high positions, not to mention that Cai Jing's party was stirring up trouble.

The saddest thing is that Li Gefei is still unable to argue, and can only silently endure the ridicule and impeachment of officials while resisting the pressure without moving.

At this time, Ergou met the depressed young lady Qingzhao.

(End of this chapter)