Chapter 60 second quarter

In early March and early April, Ma Kuo and other envoys returned to Tokyo to report on their work and ask for instructions from the officials, and together with the envoys sent by Aguda, they negotiated with the court the specific matters for the delivery of Yanyun. The importance of the mission of Ma Kuo and the others increased as the officials finally understood the shameful fact that they could not win in the military and had to rely on their insane tongues to win and redeem Yanjing .Therefore, no matter how busy the official affairs are, as soon as he hears that the ministers are back, he will immediately arrange an interview and ask about the details of the negotiation.

When the gold side put forward the specific figures, the officials inquired: "The Jin people and I are friendly neighbors. There is an ancient practice of borrowing troops to help each other. In the past, when Huihe helped Tang Suzong and Tang Daizong to recover the two capitals, they only asked for a little gold and silk to reward the army. Why do the Jin people add so many old things now? ?” The officials have always been generous, and have repeatedly stated that they can redeem Yanjing at all costs without hesitation. When they heard the specific figures, they became a little fussy again.In fact, in the campaign against Liao, tens of millions of money and food flowed out to the sea like rivers, so why care about such small numbers.Probably he felt that his face was lost and his self-esteem was damaged, so he asked this question.

The three people gave different answers according to their philosophy of life and the degree of adaptation to official life. "The chieftains of the Jurchens are greedy and violent by nature, and they only follow the profit, and they don't care about anything else. If the ministers are fighting hard, the claim is not enough." Zhao Liangsi finally saw the greedy face of Aguda and Zhulang Jun clearly, Anticipating that there will be many troubles on the border in the future, he will not be able to get rid of his responsibilities. His dream of wealth and honor has been broken by more than half.

"Fortunately, His Majesty's martial arts and holiness convinced Aguda, otherwise, how could the side trouble be so easy?" Lu Yi answered the question in an ambiguous manner, a bit like a warning, and took the opportunity to praise the saint again, which showed that he was indeed worthy of being a veteran in the officialdom. Only Ma Kuo gave the most straightforward answer.He agreed with Zhao Liangsi's analysis of the Jurchen chiefs, and pointed out bluntly: "This is due to the improper selection of commanders in this dynasty, the lack of discipline in the army, and the lack of military prestige."

Improper selection of commanders not only blamed Tong Guan, Liu Yanqing and other military leaders, but also pointed the finger at the official who sent Tong Guan as the envoy and Liu Yanqing as the governor of the capital.After hearing this, the officials looked unhappy for a long time.Fortunately, Zhao Liangsi was good at turning things around. When the officials asked about the negotiation of the aftermath, they took advantage of the situation to praise Ma Kuo's contribution and said: "To discuss the aftermath, the minister and others fought against A Gu several times, during which Ma Kuo committed Yan Lizheng and contributed the most."

Hearing this good word, the officials responded with anger and joy, and said: "I heard that Ma Kuo is quite knowledgeable." "Although Ma Kuo was born in the Western Army," Zhao Liangsi replied on his behalf, "he won the martial arts examination in the past." The official asked Ma Kuo which martial arts list he was in. "The minister is from Qin Jiayu's list," since the official asked him face to face, Ma Kuo had no choice but to answer truthfully, and could not help but add, "I have been educated by Your Majesty for a long time, and I am ashamed that I have made no progress." It is considered appropriate to respond.

This sentence, spoken in a polite manner, made up for the offense just now, and it really hit the official's intention.Now he praised: "If you don't know the book, can An Neng go on an envoy?" The words also contain the meaning that he knows people and is good at responsibility.Improper selection of commanders led to the failure of the two wars against Liao. As the emperor, he certainly could not absolve himself of the blame, but he chose the man very properly, so he was able to complete the task. This call did not care about the nature of the reward for meritorious deeds, let alone Ma Kuo offended the officials with his words.But unexpectedly, on the same night, when the imperial pen was received, Ma Kuodei eliminated Dr. Wu Yi and the governor of Zhongzhou, and he closed his door to praise the family.

Doctor Wu Yi is an official rank, while the governor of Zhongzhou is a false title. The so-called "Yaojun rampage" only gave him the status of a military officer, and did not really send him to Zhongzhou, Sichuan as a magistrate.Hemen Xuanzansheren is a military attache who is in charge of receiving officials when the officials meet them.When Ma Kuo first sent gold, the imperial court lent him this official position, but it could be regarded as a long-term loan without repayment, and this time he was really expelled. After the army returned triumphantly, the people were ordered to meet with your Majesty again. At this time, the negotiations were over, and it was time to reward them for their merits.Ma Kuo transferred another rank and was promoted to martial arts doctor and Hezhou defense envoy, which is already a military officer above the middle level.

Ma Kuo started as Cheng Jielang, and followed his father to sail to the Jin Dynasty to participate in the diplomatic activities of the "Sea Alliance". After a few years, he was promoted to his current position. He was already a well-known cadre in the imperial court at that time. up.Was he doing a good job or a bad job during this period?Contributing to history?Good or bad for the people?It's hard to put it into one sentence.However, although the talent he showed in his work was jealous, smeared and even viciously slandered by some people, it was still popular among most people.It was especially appreciated by the supreme rulers of several dynasties at that time.

Ma Kuo was the one who had seen the most emperors of various dynasties in his time.These emperors represented their respective interests, which were sometimes common, sometimes contradictory, and sometimes diametrically opposite, incompatible.For a period of time, the interests of Song and Jin were the same in uniting Jin to destroy Liao, but it was a great disaster for Liao.There are also sharp contradictions in the common interests. The difficult process of negotiating the redemption of Yanjing City shows that when the Song and Jin dynasties with common interests developed to this stage, the contradictions had become prominent.But strangely, the supreme rulers of these three dynasties with different interests and even absolutely contradictory dynasties all unanimously praised and appreciated Ma Kuo's personal talents.In Liao, he was appreciated by Empress Xiao and Yelu Dashi, who later became king of Xiliao.In the Jin Dynasty, he was praised by Wanyan Aguda. In comparison, the Taoist emperor of this dynasty was the last emperor to appreciate his talents. Pay attention, but in the end he was promoted.

Appreciated and praised by the supreme rulers of various dynasties, this only shows that Ma Kuo's ideology has not left their category, and his talents can only serve the interests of their class. If it weren't for the historical environment that changed greatly and quickly—it was a turbulent and magnificent historical environment that intertwined national contradictions and class contradictions, which affected him, transformed him, perfected him, and made him His ideology has developed, made breakthroughs, and even broke with his original class consciousness. If it hadn’t been for the later historical environment that made his talents contribute to the interests of the nation and the people, by now, Ma Even if Kuo has infinite enthusiasm for the nation and country he belongs to, and hopes to do something beneficial to them, from the objective effect test, after all, he is just a cadre in the feudal dynasty. From then on, Ma Kuo's official rank basically stayed at this stage. He was once promoted from a defense envoy to an observation envoy, and his position also changed slightly. Gain weight for horses.The important thing is that his career has developed significantly, which is far from being limited by the scope of those official positions.He is not recorded in history with his position and title like most feudal officials, but with his glorious career of fighting against aggression and oppression.Therefore, in the history of our country, he is a hero who should be highly appraised.