Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The peace negotiations were held in the Ming Dynasty, but the negotiations were not concluded until the end of autumn.

First, Xixia took advantage of the opportunity and swallowed up all the territory it had swallowed up, and had to spit it out, returning to the situation in the late Xuanhe years of Song Huizong.

Second, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to occupy Henan Army Sicheng and Kalochuan River Valley, as well as Zhenwucheng and Haomen River Valley. These are undisputed Chinese territories.

Third, the two countries are a country of father and son, with Ming Dynasty as the father and Xixia as the son. The leader of the Xixia Kingdom should call the Ming Emperor father.

Fourth, the two countries resume trade exchanges. The Ming Dynasty could not prevent Xixia from selling green and white salt to the Han Dynasty, and Xixia could not prevent the tribes within its territory from selling horses to the Han Dynasty.

The treaty consists of these four points and is very concise and clear.

The country of fathers and sons, the country of brothers, if it cannot achieve an overwhelming victory, it will only gain some verbal advantage.

But if it develops to the point of destroying the country, for example, the Ming Dynasty destroyed Xixia, then many places can use the topic to their advantage!

Beyond the treaty, there is another situation.

Xixia promised to return Yinzhou, but Xiao Heda still occupied Yinzhou. This seems very subtle. The territory belongs to the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the soldiers belong to the Xixia army. It is difficult to decide whether Xiao Hedaka should stay there.

However, Xixia still had to supply food and grass. Fearing that the food would be cut off, Xiao Heda directly led his troops to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

Compared to the situation in the northwest, Ju Ming is more concerned about the situation in the south.

"This Li Bao, what does he want to do?" Zhu Ming had a headache and threw the letter from Wang Yuan on the table.

Zhang Bor had already returned from Shandong and was currently serving as Minister of War. He gave a brief summary of the situation to everyone attending the meeting: "After the floods in Jingjiang receded, our Navy fought many times with the Puppet Chu Navy. Because of its sharp firearms, our Navy won After several battles, the remnants of the Puppet Chu Navy no longer dared to leave Dongting Lake..."

"After our navy took control of the Yangtze River, General Li first captured Yidu and Baishui Town, and then used artillery to storm Songzi, completely ensuring the safety of Sichuan's supplies eastward..."

"Immediately sent troops to attack Gong'an. Although the city was captured, the puppet Chu soldiers fought to the death in the streets. Our army suffered more than 4,000 casualties. Among them, more than 600 were killed or seriously injured. General Li then ordered to stop the southern expedition. The prince's 1,000 The heavily armored guards and six thousand Kuizhou soldiers were transported to Haimen in batches to practice riding on sea ships..."

The cabinet minister Zhong Shidao, who had returned to Beijing, was also invited to the meeting. After listening to the content of the letter, he said: "It seems that the morale of the Puppet Chu side is high. After General Li captured Yidu, Songzi and Gong'an, he thought that the casualties would be too high if he continued to attack." Big, I plan to conquer the southeast first."

Wang Zhen said: "But all the grain and grass and baggage have been transported to Jingxiang. Even the two new Huai armies, apart from part of them being stationed in Huainan, the rest are also transferred to the Jingjiang area. If he says to attack the southeast, he will attack the southeast, and the soldiers and grain will fly there Can’t do it?”

Zhu Ming rubbed his eyebrows and said, "Because we mobilized troops and transported food in a large scale, the attention of Prime Minister Zhong and Zhao Ji was attracted. No one could have imagined that Li Bao would go to the southeast."

Zhang Bor asked doubtfully: "General Li only transferred 7,000 soldiers to Haimen. If he transfers army food and grass on a large scale, it will inevitably attract the enemy's attention. How can he take the southeast with these 7,000 soldiers?"

Ju Ming said: "Judging from the news sent back by Xizuo, some of Zhao Ji's soldiers are in Fujian and Jiangxi to suppress bandits; some are deployed in the direction of Jiangzhou and may be sent to help Zhong Xiang fight at any time; some are deployed south of the Yangtze River Fortified. On the contrary, in Hangzhou, there are only three thousand forbidden troops newly organized by Zhao Ji."

"He wants to take a sea ship directly to Hangzhou?" Shi Yuangong asked in surprise.

"Definitely." Zhu Ming didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

In another time and space, Li Bao took a boat directly from Hangzhou to attack Shandong, and was able to annihilate tens of thousands of Jin army.

For Li Bao now, what does it mean to take a boat from the Yangtze River Estuary to Hangzhou?

With the weak character displayed by Song Huizong, one can only imagine his reaction when an army of 7,000 troops suddenly appeared outside Hangzhou.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to evaluate it.

Because this kind of tactical idea has been used before, but due to various factors, it has not been successful. For example, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he had a partial army cross the sea from Shandong and cooperate with the main force to attack the Korean Peninsula.

But you can't say it's not possible. Sometimes you have to play new tricks when fighting.

When Zhao Kuangyin destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty, he pioneered the idea of ​​building a pontoon bridge to cross the Yangtze River. When Li Yu learned the news, he laughed at it as child's play.

There is a pontoon bridge several miles long, and the army crosses the river on the pontoon bridge. What is it if it is not child's play?

Then, Southern Tang Dynasty disappeared.

Two days later, Ju Ming finally received Li Bao's personal letter.

The letter described in detail the situation on the Jinghu battlefield. The area around Dongting Lake was Zhongxiang's base camp. Although the people there lived a very difficult life, they all regarded Zhongxiang as the savior of the world.

No matter how good the military discipline of the Ming Dynasty's army was, the local people never bought it.

Every time the Ming army sent out troops, not far away, people would tip off Xiang Zhong. Any small fishing boat in the Yangtze River may take the initiative to provide intelligence to Prime Minister Zhong, and it is impossible for Li Bao to kill all the people along the way.

There is also the Puppet Chu army fighting for their lives. The closer they get to Dongting Lake, the harder it is for the Puppet Chu defenders to fight.

Li Bao said in the letter that he could forcibly destroy Puppet Chu with his existing troops, but in the end it was very likely that more than half of them would be killed or injured.

It’s better to go straight to Hangzhou!

Ju Ming thought about it and decided to trust the frontline coach. He wrote back with only one sentence: "You can act cheaply and pay attention to the waves on the sea."

After sending the letter, Ju Ming ran to talk to his father.

After briefly explaining the situation, Ju Ming couldn't help complaining: "This Li Bao, in order to hide the move of troop deployment, only told Wang Yuan who was accompanying the army. Without my permission, he ordered Wang Yuan to take the thousand heavy Guard A has been transferred from the designated battlefield."

"Can he win?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Ju Ming said: "There are tens of thousands of troops in hand, so we have to use thousands of troops to attack behind. This battle is like a lunatic. Who can guess his movements? I think he can easily win Hangzhou."

"It's enough to be able to win the battle. Talents always have some willfulness." Zhu Guoxiang said with a smile.

"It's not just a matter of self-assertion," Ju Ming said, "I can already guess how he will fight next. If Song Huizong is caught, Southeast can send a message. If Song Huizong runs fast, Li Bao will He will definitely repeat his old tricks, crazily recruiting new troops in the southeast, and taking advantage of the chaotic situation to absorb a large number of rebels. He will definitely be able to seize the southeast, but most of the southeastern roads will be messed up, and he will have to spend time to slowly deal with the aftermath. "

Zhu Guoxiang consoled him: "If Li Bao had not messed up the southeast, Song Huizong would have exploited it to a complete mess. The long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain. It should be conquered and managed early."

Zhu Ming shook his head: "I understand the truth, but no matter how exploited Song Huizong is, it can't compare with the destructive power of the military disaster. Lianghuai's butt has just been wiped by him, and there are still feces in some places. Next, he has to wipe it. Southeast’s ass.”

"If the army marches southward in the future, won't there be military disasters in the southeast? There will definitely be rebellions by then." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Ju Ming said: "With a large army here, the chaos can be controlled. With his method, there will be chaos everywhere, and they will burn, kill and loot under our banner."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "You are too concerned about one thing and not the other. How can anything be perfect in the world?"

"I know, so I agreed with his idea," Zhu Ming said, "I just feel a little unhappy and want to find someone to complain about. Li Bao is usually quite normal, but when he goes into battle, he turns into a madman and makes many unauthorized changes. Battle plan. I'm not afraid that I won't be able to control him, but I'm afraid that he will go too far in the future and I will have to kill him."

Zhu Guoxiang advised: "The subjective initiative of your subordinates is very important. Don't deliberately suppress it, otherwise everyone will be timid in doing things in the future. When he returns to Beijing in triumph, he should be rewarded and rewarded, and he should be beaten."

Ju Ming complained: "Hitting him is useless. I've beaten him several times, but this guy doesn't take it seriously."

…

Hangzhou is here.

The palace here has been under construction for half a year. Due to the lack of suitable wood, it had to be reduced in size and specifications.

Song Huizong felt aggrieved. The palace he designed himself had to change the drawings due to a shortage of raw materials.

Even so, it was difficult to find ready-made wood, so we had to demolish some surrounding temples and transport the pillars and beams from the main hall.

"Your Majesty, the scoundrels in Yixing are in rebellion and gathering at Xianglu Peak in Junshan. Yixing County has been captured!" Eunuch Li Yan rushed in.

Song Huizong was calm and calm: "Where is Zhu Meng? I remember that he is working around Taihu Lake."

Li Yan said: "It was Zhu Meng and his son who recruited people around Taihu Lake in the name of building palaces, and then forced the people of Yixing to rebel!"

"Summon his father and son to Beijing." Song Huizong said.

"Yes!" Li Yan bowed and stepped back with a triumphant smile on his face.

Li Yan is also cultivating his confidants to collect money, and now that the territory is so large, he and Zhu Meng and his son are in a competitive relationship.

Song Huizong was also impatient with Zhu Meng and his son. After thinking about it, he couldn't wait for these two people to come to Hangzhou. He called Cai You and said: "Go to Suzhou to trap Zhu Meng and his son, recruit their private soldiers, kill them to vent the people's anger, and then announce that taxes will be reduced or reduced next year, and the local tribute around Taihu Lake will no longer be levied this year."

"According to the order!" Cai You accepted the order and retreated.

After leaving Xingzai, Cai You was in a trance.

Zhu Meng and his son amassed countless amounts of money, annexed hundreds of thousands of acres of land, and dared to raise private soldiers. Logically speaking, they deserved to be cut to pieces.

But Song Huizong knew these things long ago, but he didn't take action until now. He was just using Zhu Meng and his son as tools.

A tool for making money and a tool for calming chaos!

Cai You was ordered to clean up the situation, so he inevitably felt sad that the rabbit was dead and the fox was dead. Maybe one day it would be his turn?

I don't know how long this small court in the southeast can last. Cai You thinks it will be good if it can last for five years.

Where should you go then?

On Cai You's way to Suzhou, more than a dozen sea-going ships departed from Haimen and sailed toward Hangzhou silently.

This kind of sea-going ship is called a sea ship, a common offshore merchant ship in the Song Dynasty, with a load capacity of only 120 tons and a deck about 10 meters wide.

Who would have thought that all the ships were carrying soldiers and food?

Until this time, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty in Jingxiang did not know where their commander had gone. All the ministries were temporarily under the unified command of Wang Yuan, and the troops were divided to guard key cities, and then the navy was allowed to roam freely in case Zhong Xiang suddenly led troops to counterattack.