Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Although Shaanxi is divided into Qinfeng Road and Yongxing Military Road, they are managed by the same transport envoy, namely: Shaanxi Transport Envoy.

When Ju Ming besieged Xingyuan Fucheng, a messenger asking for help had arrived in Shaanxi.

Guess who is the Shaanxi transfer envoy?

It was Li Bozong, the minister of Dali Temple, who chose to resign after reading Ju Ming's "Song of Righteousness"!

The old man resigned and returned home, and many people came to him to plead for mercy.

In order to win over the centrists, Wang Fu also asked the centrists to recommend talented people, but a lot of people recommended Li Bozong.

Song Huizong and Wang Fu discussed it and decided to appoint Li Bozong as the transfer envoy to the capital of Shaanxi.

This is a chore!

After Tong Guan conquered Xixia, the Song Dynasty occupied some new territories. The farthest city was in Menyuan, Qinghai. There were very few Han people along the way, and heavy troops had to be stationed to defend Xixia. All food was transported through Shaanxi.

With continued blood transfusions to Gansu and Qinghai, Shaanxi has exhausted its financial resources.

What the transporter thinks about every day is how to make money and food.

Li Bozong also organized settlements, but regardless of whether they were military or civilian settlements, most of them fled within a few months.

As long as they go to Gansu and Qinghai to serve as soldiers, each soldier can be allocated 200 acres of land, and the government will also provide travel expenses to send their families there. But it's no use, so I should run anyway. I would rather stay in Shaanxi and be a beggar than go to Gansu and Qinghai to become a big landlord.

Because he couldn't recruit tenants, he couldn't grow the crops himself, and the civil and military officials were still exploiting them to death!

It can be understood as giving money to defend the border.

"Jingsue, there is an urgent report from Hanzhong!" An official came in hurriedly.

Li Bozong was not only the transfer envoy of Shaanxi Province, but also had the title of Shaanxi economic envoy. He asked: "What's the matter?"

The subordinate officer held the urgent document in both hands and said: "It is urgent for eight hundred miles, and I have no right to open it and read it."

The letter was delivered from Baoxie Road. No matter how urgent it was, we couldn't rush it. When we sailed from Hanzhong to a deep and dangerous valley, we had to get off the boat and walk over the mountains.

Sealed letters in the Qin and Han Dynasties used sealing mud, soap bags and other materials.

In the Song Dynasty, it was much simpler. The seal was sealed and sealed, and the seam seal had to be torn open when reading.

Li Bozong opened the seal and glanced at it before his breathing became rapid.

Afraid that he had read it wrong, he read it carefully and read it twice. Li Bozong slapped the case and cursed: "Rat! It's useless for me to resign for you. Who did you write "Song of Righteousness" for?"

The subordinate officer asked: "Jing Lue, what's the urgent matter in Hanzhong?"

After finishing the scolding, Li Bozong lay on the chair and said feebly: "Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming and their sons have rebelled and have occupied three counties in Yangzhou."

The subordinate officials were dumbfounded and didn't know what to say for a while.

Shaanxi could no longer mobilize its troops. Some were sent to Hebei to conquer the Liao Dynasty, and some were sent to guard the border areas to defend against Xixia.

Even if there are soldiers, they cannot be mobilized. Because of the lack of money and food, it is difficult to supply the border troops every year.

After sitting for a long time, Li Bozong straightened his back and braced himself to write a report to the court requesting that the Western Army in Hebei be transferred back as soon as possible.

After thinking about it carefully, Li Bozong ordered: "Inform the prefectures and counties of Qinfeng Road and Yongxing Army Road, whether they are patrol soldiers, Xiang troops, or archers, archers, all soldiers who are worthy of fighting will be mobilized nearby. Take the main road heading north to Hanzhong. Be sure to block all Baoxie Road, Chencang Road, Tangluo Road, and Ziwu Road!"

Hanzhong wrote a letter asking for help. How could Li Bozong have the ability to rescue him?

What he is thinking about now is how to defend. Shaanxi's two armies are empty. If the Zhu family and his son lead troops to kill, the whole of Shaanxi will fall!

The more Li Bozong thought about it, the angrier he became. This was a perfect time to rebel. The Zhu family and his son must have been planning it for a long time!

Xu Fuyan not only wrote to Shaanxi, but also sent a letter to Tokyo. The messenger has now passed through Chang'an. Another letter was sent to Chengdu, and the courier has now arrived in Hanzhou (Guanghan).

…

Guanghan.

A fast horse galloped southward crazily. When they arrived at the Qingbai River Ferry, the messenger shouted: "Ferry, eight hundred miles away!"

The soldiers in the shop stood up in panic, and the whole shop was in a panic.

The person responsible for delivering letters in the delivery shop also belongs to the Xiangjun rank. When urgent documents are encountered, they will definitely be replaced along the way.

"Do you want to replace someone?" a soldier asked.

The messenger said: "I came from Guanghan and sent it to Jintang to change it."

After saying that, he handed the horse to Pu Bing and quickly jumped onto the boat.

Crossing the river by boat, riding horses again, and galloping all the way towards Jintang.

After arriving in Jintang County, the courier was so tired that he handed the urgent letter to Pu Bing and lay down.

He changed a courier and rushed to Chengdu.

"Eight hundred miles, hurry up, eight hundred miles, hurry up, get out of the way!"

On the street, the horses were riding, and passers-by were dodging.

The transportation envoy of Chengdu Fuludu and the shipping envoy of Sichuan was a Fujianese named Huang Gai.

When he opened the urgent document and looked at it, his eyes turned black and he kept muttering: "It's a disaster, it's a disaster!"

Fang La had done too much in the southeast, and the officials of the Song Dynasty were now very nervous and panicked when they saw someone rebelling.

Here in Sichuan, people "rebel" every year, but they are barbarians who are deliberately forced to rebel.

The Zhu family father and son are different. They have both been officials. They are by no means comparable to ordinary rebels!

Huang Gai could imagine that if Hanzhong was captured by rebels, the next target would be Shuzhong.

Because Shu and Han are one body, this has been proven throughout the ages.

"Get Gao Jingshan quickly!" Huang Gai shouted in panic, having lost his bearings.

Gao Jingshan worked as a road transportation judge in Lizhou for several years. He worked with Lu Tixue to promote corn and sweet potatoes, and also worked for Huang Qianshan to put down the rebellion of Huanghuangxia rural soldiers. He and Zhu Guoxiang knew each other well and could chat well with each other.

Today, Gao Jingshan serves as the deputy transit envoy of Chengdu Fulu.

Hearing that an urgent document was delivered eight hundred miles away, and his boss was looking for him anxiously, Gao Jingshan rode all the way over to meet him: "Envoy Huang, what's the urgent matter?"

Huang Gai said: "The Zhu family and his son have rebelled and have captured three counties in Yangzhou."

"What?" Gao Jingshan didn't believe his ears.

"The Zhu family and his son have rebelled!" Huang Gai took a photo of the urgent document.

After Gao Jingshan read it, he still couldn't believe it: "Why did it turn out to be so good?"

Huang Gai said: "You have been an official in Hanzhong for a long time, and you have met the Zhu family and his son, and you have come up with a charter."

Gao Jingshan quickly distanced himself from the relationship and said displeasedly: "What kind of regulations can I have? Do the envoys suspect that I am involved with the rebels? Even if the thieves are to be suppressed, the envoys should make the decisions!"

Huang Gai quickly explained: "That's not what I meant. Deputy Ambassador Gao is familiar with the situation in Hanzhong. Please help me make up my mind. My mind is very confused now."

Gao Jingshan then said: "There are not many soldiers on Lizhou Road. Based on my understanding of Zhu Guoxiang, he is not a person who likes to take risks. Now that we have raised troops, we must be well prepared. Hanzhong must be almost gone. For this plan , immediately gathered troops and went north to strengthen the troops in various places to prepare for the Zhu family and his son to come to Shu."

"Yes, yes, guard all the important passes!" Huang Gai finally regained his consciousness.

A few years ago, 100,000 Lunan barbarians rebelled. Sichuan scraped together only more than 10,000 troops from the east and west. They were killed by the barbarians and retreated steadily. 30,000 elite Western troops were transferred from Shaanxi to settle the situation.

The reason is that the Northern Song Dynasty was too prepared for Sichuan.

Although the war between Song Dynasty and Shu Dynasty was fought smoothly, governance became difficult after that.

The soldiers of the Song Dynasty burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of evil in Shu, committing heinous crimes. Throughout the history of the dynasties, no founding army was so brutal in the lands it already possessed.

That's all. In the early Song Dynasty, they were still levying excessive taxes in Shu and treating the people of Sichuan as second-class citizens.

Decades after the founding of the Song Dynasty, Sichuan uprisings continued, eventually brewing the massive Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun uprisings.

Zhang Boring's ancestor Zhang Yong governed Shu twice, using both suppression and appeasement to rectify the administration of officials and improve people's livelihood. Only then did Sichuan truly settle down.

But since then, the Song Dynasty court has been keeping a close eye on Sichuan.

The Xiang army in the north can take their weapons home.

Although the Xiang army in the southeast needs to return their armor to the warehouse after the drill, they at least train with real weapons.

Only the Xiang army in Sichuan (except for the states and counties adjacent to the barbarians) must use wooden spears and wooden knives even for daily drills.

It is very possible that you have been a soldier in Sichuan all your life and have never seen a real weapon until your death!

Civil weapons are also strictly controlled. Some ministers once suggested that common people in Sichuan are prohibited from using simple knives. If you want to ban this thing, you have to ban all hatchets and sickles. Fortunately, the emperor's IQ online did not agree.

Huang Gai quickly summoned the Xiang army and asked various states and counties to recruit rural soldiers.

The main force under him is the soldiers who are trained with wooden swords and guns...

…

Hanzhong.

Baocheng County was the first to be captured. Tushen was still more than ten miles away from the city, so the county magistrate took the lead in abandoning the city and running away, taking his entourage and property with him through Baoxie Road.

Xu Fuyan arranged for the defenders there to surrender quickly when he saw that all the officials were running away.

After a little effort by Xi County, the county magistrate turned out to be very tough and personally went to the city to participate in the defense. He also asked the wealthy households in the city to share money and grain, and gave rewards to the soldiers and civilians defending the city to encourage them, which boosted morale for a while.

Li Jinyi asked his soldiers to carry the boat and escort the archers to the city.

He adopted Shi Yuangong's strategy and wrote dozens of alienating letters to persuade him to surrender, which were sent to the city from various angles. The names of several wealthy businessmen were deliberately mentioned in the letters.

As a result, the atmosphere became tense. The county magistrate took the initiative to convene wealthy businessmen to talk and said that he would never fall into the trap of alienation, but secretly sent people to monitor the homes of those wealthy businessmen.

The wealthy businessmen were roasted on the fire, and the county magistrate distributed money and food. They were also worried that thieves would break into the city.

Immediately afterwards, Li Jinyi went to shoot arrows and throw letters, asking the wealthy businessmen in the city to raise fire as a signal.

The magistrate of Xixian County finally couldn't stand it anymore and ordered several wealthy businessmen and their legitimate sons to be arrested and placed under house arrest in the county government office. He also told the family members of the wealthy businessmen that if the thieves were defeated, they would be released immediately, and if there was any movement, they would be killed without mercy.

Li Jinyi waited for several days, but there was no movement in the city, so he ordered the withdrawal of troops.

After retreating thirty miles, they were almost evacuating to Xingyuanfu City.

The magistrate of West County sent people to investigate and found that the traitors had really retreated, and finally felt relieved. He told the soldiers not to relax in taking turns guarding the city, and he went back to the county government office to have a good rest.

It's not easy for the county magistrate. He has been nervous and even slept at the top of the city. Now he can finally take a rest.

And the soldiers and civilians guarding the city, although they were ordered to take turns on duty, all relaxed their vigilance and took the opportunity to be lazy. They were also very nervous these days.

Thirty miles away.

Li Jinyi asked the miscellaneous soldiers to guard the baggage, and said to the only two hundred elite soldiers: "Put down the rattan armor, wolf mills and shields, take the bamboo flying ladder, and follow me to fight back tonight!"

The baggage on the ship was removed, and two hundred elite soldiers rushed by ship overnight.

Returning to the outside of Xi County at dawn, I was afraid that the sound of paddling would make any noise, so I got off the boat two or three miles in advance and walked.

They carried the bamboo flying ladder and put it on the city wall to climb up. (Bamboo flying ladder: There is a big bamboo in the middle and small bamboos on the horizontal side. It is in the shape of "Feng". It is very light and suitable for use on shorter city walls.)

"kill!"

Li Jinyi took the lead in jumping on the wall and stabbed a sleeping defender to death.

The shouts of killing rang out, and the remaining defenders were awakened. Their first reaction was not to fight, but to run away screaming in panic.

West County won.