Chapter 43 second quarter

But if you don't take Tong Guan seriously, you will be fooled.At the beginning of September, the imperial court really sent an imperial envoy to come to Yubi, appointed Zhao Liangsi as the national envoy, and specially promoted Ma Kuo as the deputy envoy of the country (it was the first time that Ma Kuo was promoted to such a high position), and went to Fengzhou by way of Daizhou. In Shengzhou, there must be no mistake in agreeing with the gold master to jointly acquire Yanjing matters. I hid in a dark corner and came up with a ghost idea, and said "you don't have to be so serious", but in fact, she has already told the court to force people to do things they don't want to do in the name of officials.Yubi is Tong Guan's universal plaster.It's all his credit that things went smoothly. If something goes wrong, the officials will become his shield. These are Tong Guan's usual tricks.It was the same way he used to deal with Mr. Zhong back then, but now he used the same method to deal with a little Ma Kuo.Although Ma Kuo was very indignant about this, he was not surprised.Surprisingly, the imperial envoy sent to issue the imperial decree this time was not someone else, but his close friend Liu Kai, which was really unexpected.

After the imperial edict was conveyed, Liu Kai pulled Ma Kuo to the next place and told him in detail the twists and turns during the process. It turned out that after the argument that day, Ma Kuo also expected that Tong Guan would go to the court and force him to go on an envoy.In order to pre-empt the attack, Ma Kuo wrote a statement, and donated it clearly and clearly: If the Nuzhen enters the pass, they will insult our court in the future, which will cause great trouble.He listed five advantages of not letting Jurchen enter the customs, and nine disadvantages of allowing them to enter the customs.Not only did he oppose inviting the Jurchens to enter Juyongguan, but he also actively advocated that our army should enter the army immediately, and take down Yanjing City with lightning speed, so as to prevent the Jin people from breaching the contract and sending troops into the pass. Infinite disaster.Then he analyzed the situation and said: After the Liao army won the first battle, the whole division retreated. There are three reasons: first, because of Yeluchun's death, the country was in trouble, so he returned to the division to consolidate its foundation; Heavy troops to deter; thirdly, to deal with the constraints of the rebels from all walks of life in Xishan.Recently, I found out that Zhang Guanyu's unit of the rebel army once attacked in the west of Beijing. The Khitan army suffered a big loss, and Yelu Dashi was on the run (Ma Kuo didn't know the information about Yelu Dashi at that time, so he could only speculate like this).He predicted that after I was defeated, I would not dare to go out again. I would like to take advantage of their internal difficulties, surprise them, and make a big move. This is not only the need of the situation, but also the actual possibility.Our army must not talk about it, and then lose this great opportunity.

In order to make this statement reach the throne and have a real effect, Ma Kuo sent it to Liu Kai.Liu Kai didn't dare to be negligent, and immediately entered the imperial examination.It just so happened that the official was in a very happy mood that day, so he recited it twice on the spot, and Yuyin slammed it in praise: "Great theory, great theory!" But things are not that simple. The official's praise on a whim does not mean that he can fully accept Ma Kuo's opinions.In fact, Tong Guan's memorandum had already preceded his statement, and the officials had already entered Tong Guan's opinion, thinking that Zhao Liangsi's plan was worth a try, and now they felt that Ma Kuo's statement was also very reasonable.After pondering for a moment, he made a decision to reconcile the two diametrically opposed opinions.He said to Liu Qi:

"I see that both Zhao Liangsi and Ma Kuo's plans are feasible. I intend to send the two of them to Fengsheng Prefecture to meet the gold master. On the one hand, I will bother you to go to the front line to counsel the army and assist Liu Yanqing in planning to enter the army. The strategy of Yanjing. If there is internal trouble in Liao, our military will benefit and take Yanjing. When the two of them go, they will use it as a congratulations, and they will also discuss plans for the aftermath. There is no need to mention borrowing troops to take Yanjing. In case the frontline military The encounter was unsatisfactory, so I had to pretend to help others and join forces with me to take Yanjing. This time, the United Nations promoted Ma Kuo as the deputy envoy of Guoxin to increase his authority. He can weigh and discuss with Zhao Liangsi on everything , always take the acquisition of Yanjing as the first gist. Before Qing arrives in the army, he can explain to Ma Kuo reluctantly, and express the meaning of my reliance on him. My decree, I also sent Qing to go with me."

In fact, the official's intention was the same as Tong Guan's, to win the city of Yanjing at any cost, otherwise there would be no way to deal with the spirit of the ancestors, and no way to stop the court's discussion.As for whose power to get it, it is a secondary issue.Although he used both Ma Kuo's and Zhao Liangsi's schemes, he thought in his heart that he had to take a little risk by using Ma Kuo's schemes, rather than using Zhao Liangsi's schemes to obtain Yanjing straightforwardly.It doesn't matter to him to spend a little gold and silk.Therefore, between the two, he has a certain emphasis.Liu Kai knew this very well.The main point in the decree is to ask Ma Kuo to go to Fengsheng Prefecture in the near future.Ma Kuo could disobey the orders of Liu Yanqing and Tong Guan, but he could not disobey the imperial decree.Since the mission and itinerary were clearly stipulated in the imperial decree, even if Ma Kuo had one hundred "advantages" and two hundred "disadvantages" at this point, he would have nothing to say.He had no choice but to say goodbye to Liu Kai, and set off with Zhao Liangsi, going to Fengsheng Prefecture via Daizhou on the east line of the river.

People who can be their own masters are generally doing things that are in line with their own desires. Sometimes they are forced by the environment to do some opposite things, but only on specific occasions.Ma Kuo had been sent to Liao and Jin many times, and each time he believed that the tasks he was going to complete were beneficial to the country and in line with his own wishes.He has never been so clearly aware that what he is going to perform this mission is a task imposed on him by others and absolutely contrary to his own wishes.In other words, the more the tasks he was going to perform on this trip met the requirements of the above, the more serious disasters would be brought to the court.But the master of the court, the official family, would not thank him for being so loyal, because there were too many layers of separation between him and the official family.How could it be possible for a high-ranking official to clearly understand all the thoughts of a low-ranking Wubian?Since the officials praised his statement as a "great theory", how could it be possible to ignore the most important point in his miscellaneous statement and instead send him to Jinbang to carry out a task he was most opposed to?

It is indeed impossible for officials to understand Ma Kuo's point of view.In the official's mind, they also believed that "dual-use measures" satisfied half of Ma Kuo's wishes, and the promotion of him as Guoxin's deputy envoy satisfied the other half.In the past, Ma Kuo only followed his father as an envoy to Jinbang without any official status. Now he is serving as the deputy of Zhao Liangsi, a scholar of Longtuge, and his name and official title must be recorded in the national certificate, which is a big problem. Improve his political status and voice.He should be completely satisfied with the combination of these two halves, and happily go to Fengsheng Prefecture to "take up his new post" because of the great favor that the officials have given him.

The Ma Kuo understood by the officials is just such a Ma Kuo, as if he understands the tens of thousands of other officials who have been climbing the official ladder. Ma Kuo's statement was written so clearly, and Liu Qi, who was trusted by the officials to speak in front of him, was able to clear it up, but the result was still quite different from his original intention.He couldn't help but think for the first time that the reason why Tong Guan was so "obtained by the emperor", so he could get the royal brush from the official family as he wanted, was because Tong Guan and the official family had roughly the same ideas, but he himself and the official family had different ideas. For very different reasons.

At this time, Ma Kuo thought for the first time about the relationship between himself and the officials. For him, officials were originally unattainable, but he never thought of this level in the past, because he has always worshiped officials as being clever and insightful, and what he himself has done in the past is now Everything he has done and plans to do in the future is to protect the interests of the officials, and there is no possibility of conflict between him and the officials.In the past, there were times when things went wrong, and that was because Wang Fu, Tong Guan, and others worked in the middle to create misfortune, and had nothing to do with the officials.As for the many absurd and bad policies during the political propaganda period, they were also caused by the same reason and had nothing to do with officials.This time, the distance between him and the officials suddenly shortened. The officials appreciated his talent, and personally wrote the words "Specially promoted Ma Kuo as the deputy envoy of Guoxin" in the imperial pen, and asked Liu Kai to turn around and rely on him. In other words, he felt that the relationship between himself and the officials was even more alienated.It is this intelligent and insightful official who has brought many obstacles to his "career".If the officials are really wise and know everything, why would they accept such an obviously absurd suggestion from Tong Guan, asking the Jin army to enter the pass and take the city of Yanjing, as if ordering the whole army not to cross the river to provoke?Didn't the officials think that the consequences of doing so would bring endless disasters to his court and himself?

This "why" suddenly seemed to be a seed planted in Ma Kuo's heart.From then on, Ma Kuo often had to think of some questions that his ability could not answer for the time being to trouble himself. Ma Kuo pinned his hopes on military progress.It is the only unsatisfactory measure for the officials to let Liu Kai come to the front line to serve as military counselors.Before he set off, he talked to Liu Qi twice about the flagging situation of the army.Although the situation in the military is complicated, he firmly believes that Liu Qizhi's arrival can play a positive role in coordinating the generals and uniting comrades-in-arms to fight against the enemy.In the military, it is mainly about personnel issues. The generals of the Western Army are generally willing to serve the country. As long as they formulate clear military goals and plans, stabilize their complex, and soothe their grievances, their military future will be optimistic.

Because there are four words in the official imperial pen, "response to the situation", Ma Kuo grasped this sentence, (sometimes, he himself also used the imperial pen as a tool to fight against others), so he had a reason to fight Zhao Liangsi.They helped Liu Kai do some work before departure, and stayed in Daizhou for eight or nine days after departure, until they heard some encouraging news, and they officially made the trip.