Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The Xixia generals surrendered, and of course it was impossible to hand them over.

Not only will they not pay, but they will also be treated well.

Li Mida and Yang Zhi jointly wrote a letter back to Beijing, requesting that the Mi Qin soldiers among the prisoners of war be screened and handed over to the Mi Qin Yuxing commander.

Huizhou belongs to the border zone between the two countries. Years of war have resulted in a vast area and sparsely populated area. It is entirely possible to allocate a piece of land and give it to the soldiers of the Miqin tribe for farming and grazing.

Of course, we must also be on guard against Mi Qin revolting in the face of ups and downs.

At the intersection of Zuguanchuan and Lihe, there is Huichuan City (the size of which is just a fort), where Mi Qin Yuxing can lead troops to garrison. The section of the valley where the two rivers meet is the land allocated to the Mi Qin tribe.

The surrounding area is surrounded by castles garrisoned by Han people, including Huizhou City, Qingshuihe Village, Xinquan Village, Shuiquan Fort, Huairong Fort, Tong'an Village, Ganquan Fort, Pingxi Village, etc.

The front, back, left and right are blocked. What can the Mi Qin tribe do even if they rebel?

This is not the complete Mi Capture Department, it is just those who have been selected from among the prisoners, and there can only be a thousand numbered ones if they are exhausted. They settled among the Han people, communicated with the Han people for many years, and settled in a farming area. They became Hanized in two or three generations at most.

Moreover, Huichuan Castle is quite important. Being stationed there does not mean that he is neglecting the generals. Mi Qin Yuxing should be very satisfied with the provision of food and livestock for his subordinates to survive.

The most important bargaining chip for Ming Dynasty is not the threat of force.

The mere threat of force will not only fail to make Xixia return the land, but will also frighten them into clinging to the land.

Those tens of thousands of prisoners of war!

How many tribes hoped that the prisoners of war could return alive, which put great pressure on the Xixia monarchs and ministers. In particular, about 20,000 members of the Eight Dangxiang Tribes were captured. We couldn't insist on refusing the peace talks and let Ming kill all these prisoners, right?

The peace talks were still continuing, and Ju Ming sent an order to Lanzhou to release three hundred prisoners first to show sincerity.

Although these three hundred prisoners do not need to chop off their right thumbs, they must not be members of the Eighth Department of the Party.

…

Gyeongju (Qingyang).

Liu Zhengyan galloped all the way and arrived at Fu Miao's home. He said with joy on his face: "There is a great victory over on Xihe Road. I heard that the officers and soldiers killed more than 100,000 people in Xixia!"

"I also received the news." Miao Fu nodded.

Liu Zhengyan said: "It's time to counterattack!"

Miao Fu was not excited, but asked: "Who are we two?"

"The military governor," Liu Zhengyan said.

Miao Fu took out a letter: "Wang Jidao (Wang Yuan) sent someone to deliver it. It's hard for him to think of us two when he is far away in Huainan."

Liu Zhengyan opened the letter and read it. There were only eight words in it: Please resign as prefect and express your feelings.

"What does this mean?" Liu Zhengyan didn't understand for a while.

Miao Fu said: "I don't understand either. I invited the military commander to understand that the current prince is ruthless and evil. The prince asked you and me to be the governors of the border areas, with military and financial power. It is nothing more than delegating power to the border generals and letting us raise our own funds. Food and salary to resist Xixia. You and I are both reckless men, how can we know so much? We are still secretly happy. When the prince frees up his hands, he will definitely deal with us military attachés and prefects."

Liu Zhengyan was stunned.

After Liu Fa was tricked into defeat and died, he was also dumped by Tong Guan, and his son Liu Zhengyan naturally couldn't please him.

Fortunately, thanks to the intercession of many of his father's old friends, Liu Zhengyan was thrown to Huanzhou and served as the mere guard of Hongde Village.

Miao Fu's father, Miao Lu, was Liu Fa's old partner, and Miao Fu himself had also served as Liu Fa's general. When the Jin soldiers went south, Miao Fu was leading the troops in Qingzhou. His father had served as the governor of Qingzhou and had many old troops here.

Last year, when Xixia took advantage of the situation, Liu Zhengyan's troops fled and retreated to Huanzhou City with the remaining troops.

Huanzhou City was empty of troops and was quickly defeated by Xixia. Liu Zhengyan retreated with Huanzhou Zhizhou. He was sent to ask Miao Fu to send troops to rescue. When the two men came to rescue, the governor of Huanzhou was defeated and died.

Now in the entire Huanzhou, only Maling Town, Fangquzhai and Mubo Town are left. The rest of the towns were occupied by Xixia. Liu Zhengyan was appointed as the magistrate of Huanzhou.

Miao Fu had great prestige and many troops, so his official position was naturally higher.

Huanqing Road was changed to Huanqing Prefecture, and Miao Fu served as the prefect of Huanqing. He had full control of the military, political and financial power, and became a full-fledged warlord.

The reason why Wang Yuan wrote to remind them was because Wang Yuan also followed Liu Fa in the past.

"As a magistrate, I only have two towns and one village left in my territory. How can I be a warlord?" Liu Zhengyan suddenly became angry after hearing this.

But Fu Miao said: "But I am the prefect. I am still surprised, why Huanqing Road was changed to Huanqing Mansion, and Pizhou must be removed. But Pizhou is located in a strategic location, and the imperial court sent officials to govern it. From now on, So that we can send troops to attack us. We have never thought about separatist rule, the prince is really... so suspicious!"

Liu Zhengyan said: "It is better to send troops to take back Huanzhou, and then we can resign as governor. In this way, we can show our loyalty to the court. With Uncle Wang (Wang Yuan) helping in the court, you and I will definitely be trusted and used by the prince in the future. !”

Miao Fu thought for a while and said, "This is the only way."

These two people really didn't want to be warlords, mainly because they didn't have enough strength and prestige. They just wanted to rely on Wang Yuan to be their backers and gain official positions.

Regarding the Miao-Liu mutiny, one theory is that Wang Yuan was greedy for money and used river-crossing boats to carry the property he had stolen from the rebellion, which made Liu Guangshi's army unable to cross the river. Afterwards, he colluded with the eunuchs and was not only exempted from punishment, but was also reused by Zhao Gou in charge of the imperial army. The troops of Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan, however, did not even have anything to eat. They killed Wang Yuan in a rage, and then took Zhao Gou Qing's side hostage, frightening Zhao Gou to the point of becoming impotent and infertile.

This description contains both official historical records and a lot of imagination.

Wang Yuan has always been known as a person who cares about money and loves righteousness. Why did he suddenly become greedy for money during the journey south? In order to transport the treasure, all the troops were abandoned in Jiangbei.

Moreover, it was Wang Yuan who recommended Liu Zhengyan and Miao Fu to Zhao Gou for promotion.

In order to ask for military pay and to settle the injustice against Liu Guangshi, Miao and Liu killed their father's good friend, their supporter and bole Wang Yuan? Still holding Emperor Qingjun's side hostage?

The real reason is that most of the troops who followed Zhao Gou to the south came from the north. At that time, the generals were unwilling to cross the river and clamored to fight back. However, Wang Yuan suggested that Zhao Gou go to Hangzhou, so all the generals resented him.

And Wang Yuan also promoted the imperial army to command the imperial army. Naturally, the officers and soldiers became even more angry. They blamed Wang Yuan for all the dirty things that the eunuchs did to loot and exploit along the way. He vented all his grievances on Wang Yuan because he could not receive military pay and the soldiers were starving during the march.

However, Wang Yuan did have a good relationship with the eunuch Kang Lu, and the ships were indeed helping Zhao Gou's cronies to transport goods. Afterwards, Wang Yuan killed the officials in charge of the ships, but he could not clear his name.

Nowadays, the Miao-Liu mutiny is definitely gone, and it is estimated that a small group in the army will still be formed.

This group has Wang Yuan as the core and its old subordinates and Liu Fa's old subordinates as the backbone.

For example, Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan in front of me, such as Han Shizhong and the Zhai brothers. Han Shizhong was Wang Yuan's general, and the Zhai brothers were Liu Fa's generals.

This is not surprising. Zhang Guangdao, Li Bao, and Yang Zhi all have their own small groups.

Zhang Bor even went to Shandong and conquered half of Shandong, and took the opportunity to build his own team.

"Not to mention the large number of troops," Fu Miao asked, "how many Xixia soldiers are there in Huanzhou? Can they be defeated if I send troops?"

Liu Zhengyan said: "It is estimated that there are less than five thousand defenders in Huanzhou. Send someone to contact Liu Yanqing and Zhe Keqiu first, and ask them to send troops together to attack the lost territory under their respective jurisdictions. Xixia suffered heavy losses in Hehuang, and there must be more troops there. "Empty, in order to prevent the imperial court from continuing to advance troops, we will definitely mobilize the troops here. You and I, Liu Yanqing, and Zhe Keqiu will attack at the same time, and we will definitely destroy Xixia."

"Let's do it!" Miao Fu agreed.

…

Yan'an Prefecture.

Yang Yizhong was trying hard to persuade Liu Yanqing, the prefect of Yanyan: "Xixia has been severely weakened. Please send troops to recapture Mizhi Village, Kaiguang Fort, and Yongle City as soon as possible!"

Liu Yanqing couldn't bear the annoyance and said: "I have sent spies to find out. If Xixia has really transferred its troops elsewhere, they will definitely take back the lost territory."

Liu Yanqing's territory suffered little loss. He heard about the Xixia invasion at that time and quickly led his troops to fight back.

On the entire Yanyan Road, under Liu Yanqing's defense, only a dozen fortresses were lost.

Yang Yizhong's father and two younger brothers died fighting on Zhe Keqiu territory.

However, Yang Yizhong was an officer in Liu Yanqing's territory, so there was no reason to go to Zhe Keqiu's place to clamor for revenge.

More than ten days later, Liu Yanqing found out clearly that Xixia had taken the initiative to abandon Pingrong Village, Semen Village, Ansai Fort, Kaiguang Fort, and Mizhi Village... It was obvious that they were shrinking their troops and shortening their food routes and defense lines. It was very possible that The troops were sent elsewhere.

However, Xixia still occupies Yongle City and Luo'er City, in order to defend Yinzhou City further behind.

Liu Yanqing was overjoyed and immediately asked his son to lead the troops to take over the forts, throwing away Yang Yizhong who kept making noisy affairs. He also asked Yang Yizhong to serve as the leader of Mizhi Village and stay far away in Mizhi, so as not to bother him all day long.

You, a descendant of the generals of the Yang family in Yang Yizhong, should be looking for soldiers from the Zhe family. What are you talking about with my old Liu family?

At the same time as Liu Yanqing sent troops, Zhe Keqiu also took action on Linfu Road.

Under Ju Ming's deliberate connivance, Liu Yanqing and Zhe Keqiu became more and more like warlords. Their enthusiasm for regaining their lost territory increased greatly, and they raised their own food and went out without any urging from the court.

However, the two quickly became furious.

When Xixia voluntarily abandoned many fortresses, they plundered all the nearby people. What they took back was almost white land, and they had to worry about relocating and replenishing the population.

Liu Yanqing went to the front line in person and asked his son: "Can't these two fortresses be defeated?"

Liu Guangshi explained: "After Xixia reduced its troops, both Yongle City and Laer City had at least 3,000 defenders. All the people near the forts along the way were kidnapped by Xixia. Our army could not recruit civilians along the way, nor could it Collect grain and grass from nearby. If we want to capture these two castles, we must besiege them for a long time, and the court must send more grain and grass."

Liu Yanqing said: "The imperial court asked me to raise food and grass by myself, and I will also pay for the army myself."

"How can there be such a court? It's obvious that our Liu family is divided into separate kingdoms!" Liu Guangshi said angrily.

Liu Yanqing said: "How can we allow others to sleep soundly on the side of the couch? The prince's soldiers killed more than 100,000 Xixia soldiers in one battle. Now that he has insufficient money and food, and is surrounded by enemies on all sides, he does not have the time to take care of us. I can't bear to do it. Handing over military power resulted in the current confused situation."

Liu Guangshi asked: "Isn't Yao Gu also commanding the army?"

"He is different," Liu Yanqing said. "He surrendered early, and Yang Zhi led the troops to suppress him, so the court can naturally trust him. It is estimated that after the peace in Hehuang is settled, Yao Gu will be recalled to the center, and at most he will be allowed to His son continues to lead the army, and it is impossible for Yao Gu himself to lead the army again."

Liu Guangshi thought about it and said: "Promote Zhong Shidao and Yao Gu, and then let their sons take charge of the army. This is equivalent to me being a hostage in the court, and my son leading the troops to fight outside, and the court can reorganize them how they want."

Seeing his son looking at him while he was speaking, Liu Yanqing suddenly said angrily: "Do you also want your father to be an official in Tokyo?"

"My child has absolutely no such idea." Liu Guangshi quickly denied it.