Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen: The Alliance at Sea

The first-hand account comes from a storm at sea.To be precise, it was a storm generated in the Bohai Bay that blew a group of businessmen from the Liao Kingdom to the Koryo Kingdom to the border coastline of the Song Dynasty. There were more than 200 of these people, and the leaders were Gao Yaoshi, Cao Xiaocai, and Lang Rong, who were Han Chinese from Liao Dynasty. After they arrived in the Song Dynasty, they went ashore near Dengzhou. When they confessed their identities to the local officials, they revealed a news. In the past three years, the Liao Kingdom has retreated steadily, lost its teachers and land, and has lost the power to protect itself.

This news is explosive. Is Liao, the largest country in East Asia and invincible in the world, so miserable?People in the Song Dynasty doubted their ears collectively. After being shocked, the local officials handed over these people to Tokyo, and the emperor made a decision. Zhao Ji held an imperial meeting and asked what to do about it.In this matter, the courtiers quickly split into two extremes. On the one hand, Cai Jing and Tong Guan. This is the news they have been waiting for for a long time. The policy will never waver. The reason they made public was that it was the long-cherished wish of the Song lords of all dynasties to unite the Jin Dynasty to break the Liao Dynasty and recover the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, and it was the guarantee of the ethnic safety of the Han people.Fighting this battle is very dangerous in front of you, and it is for long-term peace and stability in the future.As long as they win, whether they are facing Liao or Jin, or any other foreign race, the Han people will regain the defense of the Great Wall.

On the other hand, the composition of the people is very complicated, there are courtiers who are outside the Cai and Tong group (there is no clear enemy for a long time), there are the original backbone of the Cai and Tong group, there are foreign emperors, and the common people of the Song Dynasty . This commoner is very good, his name is An Yaochen.He is an authentic grassroots man, but he doesn't know what method he used. He was able to penetrate Cai Jing, Tong Guan, and Liang Shicheng's shady government for more than ten years, and let Zhao Ji see the words he wrote. This memorial is thousands of words long. An Yaochen counted Zhao Ji's various mistakes since he became the throne, listed Cai Jing and Tong Guan's problems one by one, and finally focused on analyzing Yan Yun's problem.His view is that this is a political method of Cai Jing and others, not for the country but selfish desires, which will bring the country into a pit of fire.

Cai Jing was very angry about this, but Zhao Ji didn't care, and gave An Yaochen an official position. The original backbone of the Cai and Tong group was Deng Xunwu, the current Privy Council official.As mentioned earlier, he is the son of Deng Wan, and he is a minister who has made great contributions to securing Cai Jing's position and rescuing Cai Jing from other places to the capital. What he objected to was not the correctness of joining Jin to fight against Liao Dynasty, but the possibility of operation.He analyzed that in the early years of the Kingdom, with Song Taizong's prowess, Zhao Pu's strategy, and his gentle and beautiful generals, he was victorious in every battle, but suffered a disastrous defeat at Yanyun City. Will he be sure now?

The foreign emperor was the King of Goryeo. He was the most standard doormat in East Asia at that time. He had the most authoritative interpretation of every old and new power around him. The door is clear.The reason is that no matter who rises up, they will bully him immediately. He entrusted the doctor of the Song Dynasty who was treating him to bring a message to Zhao Ji, saying that the Jin people are much more vicious than the Liao people, and my brother already has a premonition that this is the most vicious group of people, so don't provoke them. The courtiers who disagreed ignored it and paid attention to the covenant in the same way, which caused headaches when it was repeated.

Combining the two views, Zhao Ji began to recall.He quietly thought about his experience after he ascended the throne, Fuhehuang conquered Xixia, and he suppressed the rebellion in the south in 1115 AD.That rebellion ranked second in the entire history of the Northern Song Dynasty, second only to Di Qing's handling of Nong Zhigao, and it was called the "Battle of Bu Leu".The Song Dynasty dispatched 30,000 Northwest troops to the south, sweeping over 30 cities in two prefectures and eight counties, and expanding land for thousands of miles. Reminiscing about all kinds of things, all wishes come true, there is nothing in the world that he can't do!Now that the ancestors have been looking forward to the god-given opportunity for a hundred years, the Liao Kingdom has been weakened to this extent, so what are you waiting for if you don't take advantage of the fire?

The Song Dynasty sent the first group of envoys, seven officers from Dengzhou local official Wang Shizhong, took Gao Yaoshi and others on board, and marched towards the territory of the Kingdom of Jin along the sea route where the Jurchens offered horses to Zhao Kuangyin in the early years of the founding of the Song Dynasty. .Their stated reason was to buy horses.After these people crossed the coast of the Bohai Sea, they found many Jurchens patrolling soldiers. Their response was to sail back home immediately.These savages are too scary to touch.After returning to the country, they reported that they were caught by Jin Guo patrols when they went ashore, and they were treated inhumanely. The other party didn't want to form an alliance at all, so they had to come back.

Zhao Ji may be an unprecedentedly extravagant son, an unconventional artist, or an unknown leader, but he is very smart, so smart that he has firmly grasped the empire in his own hands from beginning to end. Lie to him, even Cai Jing can't do it. Cai Jingdu was dismissed three times. Zhao Ji saw through these people's tricks immediately, and he sent a special person to investigate, and soon found out the truth.These people were sent far away in southern Xinjiang to go to labor camps for self-reflection.The Song Dynasty sent a second group of envoys, and this time the leader was the aforementioned Wuyi doctor Ma Zheng.In order to ensure the smooth operation of this operation, Zhao Ji sent 80 more soldiers and seven generals, one of whom was proficient in Jurchen language.

This man's name is very legendary, his name is Hu Yanqing. According to the legend, he was on the same level as the generals of the Yang family, had the same status as Bao Zheng, and Hu Yanqing, who had achieved the title of double king and double salary, led the group on the road.They crossed the Bohai Sea on September 20 of that year and arrived in the Kingdom of Jin. Treatment is a rope. Jin Guo's patrol team is really everywhere. After they found strangers, they couldn't help but tie them up. After Hu Yanqing repeatedly revealed their identities, they sent people to escort them to see Aguda.

Aguda was far away at the bank of the Lailiu River (now the Lalin River, a tributary of the Songhua River), and the two sides did not meet until more than half a month later.The first contact between Song and Jin finally arrived. The first sentence of Ma Zheng, the envoy of the Song Dynasty, was: "Please don't get me wrong, I am not the envoy of the Song Dynasty..." A Guda's face was instantly covered with black lines, playing me?Seeing that the Han man's expression was very sincere, he said the second sentence, "This is for friendship and respect." Looking back on history, Ma Zheng revisited the friendship between the ancestors of Jurchen and Song Taizu more than a hundred years ago, and denounced Liao's bad behavior towards its neighbors. Finally, he proposed that the two sides cooperate to attack Liao from north to south.

If the Kingdom of Jin agrees, the Song Dynasty will send an official envoy. A Guda agreed, and he sent Li Shanqing, Xiao Sanduo, and Bo Da to bring the credentials and gifts, and followed Ma Zheng across the sea to Dengzhou in the Song Dynasty to go ashore and transfer to Kaifeng, the capital, to meet Zhao Ji. It can be said that the sincerity of the Jin Kingdom was far greater than that of the Song Dynasty at this time.Wanyan Aguda was extremely hungry for his allies, and Zhao Ji suddenly fell from the sky, which made him ecstatic. The two parties had a pleasant talk, and Zhao Ji was very satisfied. He sent Zhao Youkai, a court official and Zhimi Pavilion, as an official envoy to cross the sea to the Kingdom of Jin with edicts and gifts to sign a contract.It was the early spring of the second year, AD 1119. When the envoys went to Dengzhou and were about to board a ship and go to sea, an accident happened.Zhao Youkai suddenly fell ill, became acutely ill, and died immediately.Immediately afterwards, Kaifeng City received a report from the insider in the Liao Kingdom, saying that the Liao Kingdom canonized Wanyan Aguda as the king of the Donghuai Kingdom, and the two countries have become friendly states. Zhao Ji was depressed, what's the matter?The king is all in the East, and these savages are simply ungrateful for profit.He ordered the envoys to return to Beijing, and only sent Hu Yanqing to send Li Shanqing and others across the sea.Let's not talk about the alliance with Jin Guo. Note that it is unsolicited, not terminated. At the end of the year, Hu Yanqing came back, and he brought back the latest situation report and a message from Wanyan Agu.The report stated that the so-called King Donghuai was real. At that time, the Liao Kingdom ceded the Dongdong Road area of ​​Liao Dynasty to the Jin Kingdom, and A Guda became the king.But Aguda was angry. He jumped on his feet and asked, what does Donghuaiguo mean? Is it a small country attached to Grateful Dade in the east?The Jurchens have already conquered two-fifths of your Liao Kingdom's territory, can't you still be on an equal footing? Aguda wrote back, saying that if the Liao Kingdom wants to seek peace, it must respect him as an emperor's brother, and pay him a tribute to the local products of the Liao Kingdom every year. He also ceded, and took the princes, princesses, son-in-laws, and ministers' children of the Liao Kingdom as hostages, and handed over documents such as reciprocal letters, edicts, tables, and spies from Song, Xixia, and Goryeo.In this way, he agreed. After Yelu received the letter, he wanted to cry but had no tears. After these consents, who is the vassal state of whose?Is Liao still a sovereign country? Regardless of land and hostages, handing over the documents of each country is equivalent to abolishing equal diplomatic rights, and Liao has always appeared as a superior, whether it is with Song, Xixia, It's still Goryeo, both of them are the big brother of the master, the contrast is too great. However, it is better than going to the battlefield with a knife and a gun... Ever since, the envoys shuttled between the two mortal enemies like a revolving lantern, bargaining on various conditions, and neither side made any concessions. The Kingdom of Jin wanted to further consume the morale and strength of the Liao Kingdom, and digest the land and people it had just annexed; Aguda asked for a thousand times, but Yelu didn't give it. Time dragged on like this. Wanyan Aguda's message is, Emperor of the Song Dynasty, I respect you very much, but do you understand the situation?I have conquered half of Liao Kingdom now, which is enough to win your friendship.In this way, if you really want to form an alliance, write your credentials quickly.If you still communicate with me in the form of an imperial edict, I will ignore it. The edict is the format of the emperor's document to his courtiers.What Zhao Ji handed over to Zhao Youkai was the edict, not the credential used in exchanges between two equal countries.This is really a big taboo of Wanyan Aguda, what he has resisted all his life is inequality.But he still held back his breath and communicated with Song Chao cautiously.Because in his heart, in the entire border areas of Mobei, Western Regions, and Northeast China, even the Mongolian tribes in the Mobei Grassland that are still in chaos, the Han people are mysterious and noble. They called Handi "Peach Blossom Stone", which means a place of happiness like a beautiful peach blossom garden.At this time, Wanyan Aguda respected and longed for the Song Dynasty. His respect and yearning made the Song Dynasty feel that things could continue. In February 1120 AD, he sent Ma Zhi as an envoy to cross the sea in the name of buying horses, and signed an alliance with Jin to attack Liao. Ma Zhi, at this time his name was Zhao Liangsi.Taking the national surname "Zhao" as the name is an unprecedented grace given to him by Zhao Ji to reward him for his patriotic behavior of not forgetting his ancestral home, living in Liaosi and thinking about Song Dynasty, and thinking about the Han people. The group set off at the end of March and crossed the sea on April 10 and landed at Guanxia, ​​Suzhou (now southwest of Jin County, Liaoning).At this time, there were no Jurchen patrols to catch them, but the process of meeting Wanyan Aguda was more complicated. The Kingdom of Jin has already recuperated and digested the looted land and population, tore off the camouflage of job hunting, and once again divided its troops into three groups to attack Liao, with the goal of Liao going to Beijing.Zhao Liangsi led his men to chase after him non-stop from the moment he landed, from Xianzhou (now Kaiyuan County, Liaoning) to Qingniu Mountain before catching up.But there is no talk, Aguda is too busy, and they are required to act with the army. Along the way, the Jin army did not stop, passing through the states and counties of the Liao Kingdom like a rapid march. Zhao Liangsi witnessed the devastating attack power of the Jurchens with his own eyes.He was surprised, and he began to regret it vaguely. This kind of combat power far exceeded his imagination. Even though he had predicted that the Liao Kingdom would surely perish in the hands of the Jurchens, he didn't expect the Jurchens to be so strong! After the death of the Liao Dynasty, what will happen to the Song Dynasty... Just as he was thinking, an even more astonishing scene appeared.Wanyan Aguda was finally willing to see him. They met at the city of Liaoshangjing. Aguda only said one word to him: "I'm busy, wait a minute. I'll talk to you when I capture Liaoshangjing." The Jin army broke into Shangjing of the Liao Kingdom that day! This is a day that Zhao Liangsi will never forget. Shangjing of the Liao Kingdom, a famous city in the Liao Kingdom that ranks among the top ten in size, defense, population, and army, unexpectedly failed to hold on for even a day before being flooded by the Jurchens. drowned.He couldn't tell if it was a miracle or a nightmare. But he thought of calming down and asking him to watch the battle. This is not a kind of demonstration. He is about to go to the negotiating table. How to negotiate the price and whether he dares to talk about it may be the original intention of the Jurchen. Zhao Liangsi is a controversial person. In "History of the Song Dynasty", his name appears in the "treacherous officials" department, and he is juxtaposed with Cai Jing brothers, Huang Qianshan, Wang Boyan, Qin Hui, Ding Daquan, Jia Sidao and other super treacherous evils. It can be said that A top notch bad guy.But people have been complaining for him, saying that only Song Chao is sorry for him, and no matter what he does whenever and wherever, he thinks of Song Chao wholeheartedly. He is a good man who is loyal and devoted to his country. Which one is true, let the facts speak for themselves, and look at his every word and line in history. Walking up to the negotiating table, Zhao Liangsi's first sentence made Wanyan Aguda's face full of black lines again, "Actually, I didn't bring my credentials...but this is still for the sake of friendship and respect." A Guda looked up to the sky and screamed, hell, why do Han people always play this trick? ! Zhao Liangsi brought the imperial pen, which is more moving than the national book in terms of level, because it was not drafted by officials, but was conceived and written by Emperor Zhao Ji of the Song Dynasty himself. The imperial pen wrote: "According to Yanjing and the prefectures and cities it manages, the Yuan is the Han land. If you want to restore the old, you can transfer Zilai and Khitan silver silk, and you can go to discuss it. Although there is no national trust, forgive me for not lying." There are two main points here: first, Yanjing also manages the prefectural city, which is a scope, and it is about these lands; second, money.Zhao Ji said that if the Jurchens agree, then the money that was given to the Liao Kingdom every year in the past will be handed over to the Jurchens. This was Zhao Ji's order, but Zhao Liangsi didn't want to follow it.He felt that he should strive for more benefits for the Song Dynasty, but he had better pay as little price as possible. The first step is to talk about land.Before talking, when Zhao Liangsi saw Yubi, his heart went cold.The imperial pen is not something you can read right away, what is written in it is a top secret, and by the time he knows it, it is already too late. "Yanjing does not manage the state city", these words are a big misunderstanding.Literally speaking, Yanyun Sixteen States, of course, is dominated by Yanjing, and the state city under its jurisdiction is of course the entirety of Yanyun Sixteen States. Wrong, outrageously wrong, naively wrong, and taken for granted. When the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun were in the hands of the Han people, they were one. In the hands of the Liao state, the administrative regions have been continuously divided for more than 170 years. The three prefectures of Ping, Ying, and Luan have formed Pingzhou Road separately. Only six prefectures under the jurisdiction of Yanjing are Tan, Shun, Jing, Ji, Zhuo, and Yi, and only six of the sixteen prefectures, only a fraction, how is the so-called Great Wall defense line composed? Even if they all want to come down, they will be intertwined with the forces of other countries, and the effect is purely to dig a hole for themselves.What to do, it is obvious that Zhao Ji didn't want to be harassed by the anti-alliance ministers, and did not go through the review of the national functional department, but he came up with the document according to the stereotypes.He is the emperor, even if he messes things up, no one dares to do anything to him. As for the officials sent out, just do as he said.But Zhao Liangsi didn't, if he was peaceful, he should stay quietly in Liao to live his noble life; if he was obedient, he should quietly take his family's property back to the Song Dynasty, instead of knocking on Tong Guan's door in the middle of the night, I want to bring all the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun back to their homeland in Han. He wanted to do something to try his best to gain benefits for the Han people and reap peace.For this reason, he threw Zhao Ji's imperial brush aside. Talking about Yanjing first, Zhao Liangsi directly merged "Yanjing and the prefecture city under its jurisdiction" into Yanjing Road, so that the six states of Yanjing were packaged together. Aguda thought for a while, and gave it. Zhao Liangsi showed the imperial pen, which contained the four characters "Yuan is the land of Han".Well, King Aguda, since it is the old land, look through the old almanac of the Liao Kingdom, Yanjing also includes Xijing (now Datong, Shanxi).What, let's give it together. Aguda thought for a while, and gave it.However, it must be given after catching Ah Shi (Yelu Yanxi's nickname). Well, that's setting the time barrier.Capturing the emperor of the Liao Kingdom is not the same as attacking the upper capital. The city stays there, and people can run wildly in the vast empire. Mountains, rivers, deep valleys and wild forests are hard to find anywhere to hide.It's hard to say what happens if you don't catch it, drag it if you catch it, or it's a corpse when you catch it. But it's better than saying no. Zhao Liangsi struck while the iron was hot, saying that Ping (now Lulong, Hebei), Ying (Changli, Hebei), and Luan (Luan County, Hebei) were also within Yanjing Road.As soon as I said this, someone from the Kingdom of Jin stepped forward with a very strange expression on his face.This man's name is Gao Qingyi, a native of Bohai, Liaodong, who has been an official in the Liao Kingdom, and he knows everything about the Liao Kingdom. The man said to Zhao Liangsi, these three prefectures are not in Yanjing Road, unless you look up the almanac of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, otherwise they will not be mixed together.Zhao Liangsi lowered his head, he knew that the bottom line was reached. The next thing to talk about is money. According to the imperial pen, the money given to the Liao Kingdom can be transferred to the Jin Kingdom every year, so it will be 500,000 taels of silver per year.But Zhao Liangsi suggested that it should be 300,000 taels per year. In this regard, Agu laughed. He didn't use his subordinates to help him, and said something himself: "When you give money to the Liao people every year, the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun are occupied by the Liao people; now I give you the city, why is the money instead of money?" not enough?" Zhao Liangsi was speechless, he wondered if the person sitting across from him was really a savage who only knew how to wield knives, wield guns, kill people and set fire?Society is a melting pot, and in the process of rebellion the savages are transformed. Since then, the Song and Jin parties have reached a conclusion on both land and money, and the final issue has been condensed to send troops.How to dispatch troops is very particular. Whoever moves first, and whoever gets there first will cause which city to be captured in reality.In case of occupying what should not be occupied, for example, in the Song Dynasty, Zijin Pass in the northwest of Yizhou, Juyongguan in the west of Changping County, Gubeikou in the north of Shunzhou, Songting Pass in the northeast of Jingzhou, especially Yuguan in the east of Pingzhou, That is to say, if all the Shanhaiguan customs were seized, even if the Jin army wanted to turn their backs and fight, they would have no way to enter the customs. With Liao Guotong like Gao Qingyi on the scene, it would be difficult for Zhao Liangsi to be sloppy.In the end, the two parties agreed that the Jin army would go to Gubeikou (northeast of Miyun County, Beijing) from Pingdi Pine Forest (in the area of ​​Keketeng Banner, Inner Mongolia, south to the north of Weichang County, Hebei Province, and east to the border of Inner Mongolia Zhalut Banner); Xiong County) tends to Baigou (the Baigou River in the northeast of Xincheng County, Hebei). As for the time to do it, it will be determined separately depending on the development of the situation. Zhao Liangsi returned to the country full of depression, and he was greatly stimulated by this mission.The first is the fighting power of the Jin army, which is really too strong. Watching Liao Shangjing fall in one day made him tremble in his heart; second, he did not expect that the Jurchens were also very smart. There are still conditions for including Liaoxijing in the contract. All these must be carefully reported to the emperor and the prime minister, and the plan will follow the situation. At first, I thought it was a chestnut from the fire, even if there was some risk, but the opportunity should not be missed.Now it seems that it is like seeking skin from a tiger, and it may cause fire! After returning to China, Zhao Liangsi reported all the findings in detail, and the emperor and prime minister also listened very carefully.As he wished, Zhao Ji, Cai Jing and others were in a hurry. They were so annoyed and regretted that they sent people across the sea again in a hurry to discuss with the Jurchen——I wrote it wrong, it’s not Yanjing, it’s the entire Yanyun Ten Six states! Zhao Liangsi almost lost his temper. These guys didn't take his warning to heart at all. What they were worried about was that the benefits were lost and they didn't take advantage of it... Facing the Song Dynasty’s back-and-forth, A Guda was rude and gave a firm answer—if there is no one in the sixteen prefectures, Liaoxijing will not give it. Your appetite is getting bigger and bigger. If you continue to do this, the contract will be voided. At this point, Zhao Ji and others were discouraged, alas, these savages don't understand anything, how could they be so rude to the emperor of the Han nationality, they should be obedient to every request.I really don't know etiquette and civility, and I'm not even worthy of lighting a fire. Well, I can only take one step at a time and take the six states of Yanjing Road in my hands first. After being greedy for small things and suffering big losses, and losing the Liaoxi capital that they had obtained, the contract between the two countries was finally signed.In May of the second year AD 1121, envoys from the Kingdom of Jin crossed the sea to the Song Dynasty, this time to discuss when to send troops.But for some reason, the Song Dynasty became hesitant and vague this time, and the envoy Jin couldn't ask anything. He waited for three months without finalizing any real matters. The envoy Jin was so angry that he had no choice but to return home depressed.He finally agreed with what the leader said--the Han people always make moths, and the simple Jurchens are really not used to it! In fact, this time he wronged the Song Dynasty. In the south of the Song Dynasty, the Fangla Uprising broke out seven months ago, on the ninth day of October in 1120 AD.About this uprising, almost every Chinese can say a thing or two.For example, the corvée in the south of the Yangtze River is too heavy, the exploitation is too severe, the Song Dynasty authorities only care about fun, ignore the government, and only think about Hua Shigang all day long, etc., these are all correct.In more detail, the responsibility will be confirmed on a few special people. For example, Zhao Ji, Cai Jing, Tong Guan, Liang Shicheng, as well as Wang Fu, Li Yan, and Zhu Wei. The first four of these seven people are already old acquaintances, and the last three are relatively new. At this time, they finally appeared on the stage, and the famous "six thieves" in Song history gathered together. Generally speaking, these six people are on the same level, as if their effects on the process of history are almost the same.This is not right, one day I was sitting on the balcony in a trance, and by chance I had an idea and distinguished the difference between them. Cai Jing, Tong Guan, and Liang Shicheng, these three are the first generation of self-employed people. They started from scratch, fought their way through the hail of conspiracy traps, stepped on countless competitors, and climbed to the highest peak of the empire. They are characterized by intelligence, rationality, and depth of knowledge.Without these three most basic things, they would have long since become stepping stones for others, becoming "disasters" one by one. These three characteristics also determine their harmfulness.No matter how hard they are, there is a bottom line. They know what can be done and what can’t be done. They understand that the empire is a ship. If they mess around recklessly, they will be brought into the vortex together, and everyone will drown. . But Wang Fu, Li Yan, and Zhu Man are different. They, together with Yang Jian and Gao Qiu, belong to the rich second generation.Their success comes too quickly and easily, or they rely on them, such as Wang, Li, Yang, and Gao; It is almost at your fingertips. Standing on the top of the empire and looking around, every land and every person is at their mercy, and they can do whatever they want.The success again and again, the irresponsibility again and again, let them believe that it doesn't matter what they do, and there are no consequences for what they do. As a result, they messed around in every corner of the empire and caused all kinds of troubles. Fang La's uprising was just one of them.So before talking about the details of the uprising, it is necessary to introduce these rich second generations clearly.