Chapter 8 second quarter

During Zhongfang’s tenure as an official, not only his own reputation was badly damaged, but also his family’s reputation was greatly damaged. People said that after the former Taoist priest became an official, his sons and nephews relied on their uncle’s power to bully the local market and do a lot of evil. The species became notorious for a time. It was against this background that Zhong Shiheng stepped onto the stage of history, and he shouldered the mission of rectifying the name of the Zhong family in Luoyang. As the nephew of Zhong Fang, Zhong Shiheng started his political career with his post. He was initially a deputy director-level cadre in the Imperial Construction Department (will be the director of the supervisor), and later served as the magistrate of Jingyang County in the local area (knowing Jingyang County), with outstanding political achievements, he was soon promoted to be the deputy mayor of Fengzhou City (Fengzhou Tongju).

Seeing a bright future, Zhong Shiheng encountered the biggest setback in his life.In Fengzhou, he offended Wang Mengzheng, who had almost become the emperor's father-in-law. Although Wang Mengzheng was not considered as the emperor's father-in-law at this time, but because of his relationship with the empress dowager's ex-husband Liu Mei, in a place as big as Fengzhou, he was like a slap in the face. Earth emperor. The deputy mayor Zhong did not succumb to Wang Huangqi's despotic power, and the two sides clashed frequently. When Zhong Shiheng was the magistrate of Jingyang County, he handled a very satisfying case there.A local township cadre named Wang Zhiqian (Li Xu) ran rampant in the village and did a lot of evil. After receiving many reports, the county magistrate Zhong decided to get rid of this evil in the township. I met the real god again, so I ran away.

Later, the emperor gave amnesty to the world, and Wang Zhiqian swaggered back to Jingyang County, saying arrogantly that the emperor had granted an amnesty to you, what can you do with the little county magistrate, but what was waiting for him was the county magistrate's hundred-killing stick—the emperor let go Pass you, Mr. Zhongxian will not let you go, you won't have a long memory if you don't open your ass. In Fengzhou, Wang Mengzheng and Zhong Shiheng had a bad relationship, Wang Zhiqian found Wang Mengzheng as his backer, and under Wang Mengzheng's instigation, Wang Zhiqian went to Beijing to report Zhong Shiheng's evil.Wang Meng was backed by Liu E in the court, and of course Zhong Shiheng, who was young and had no background (Zong Fang was dead at this time), was no match for him, so he was dismissed from get out of class and exiled to Douzhou, Ruzhou and other places.

Of course, Wang Mengzheng's good life didn't last for a few days. We all know that not long after Liu E's death, he was demoted and exiled for messing with his father's maid. After Zhao Zhen came to power, people in the court who knew about Zhong Shiheng's grievances, such as Li Hong, Song Shou, and Di Wei, who were direct scholars of Longtuge, defended Zhong Shiheng, and soon Zhong Shiheng was rehabilitated. , Signed a letter with the state, Fuzhou magistrates and other positions. At this time in the northwest, the mountains and rain were about to come and the wind filled the building, and the Northern Song Empire heard the howling of wild wolves in the northwest.

Li Yuanhao, the party leader who occupies the land of Hexi, is already full-fledged, and finally bared his wolf teeth to the Northern Song Empire.Beginning in the first year of Baoyuan (1038 A.D.), the Xixia people went crazy, and in the following years they slapped the people of the Northern Song Dynasty four times in Sanchuankou, Haoshuichuan, Linfufeng, and Dingchuanzhai.Not only did it hurt the people of the Northern Song Dynasty, but more importantly, they lost face. The Northern Song Empire sent the best civil servants (why not the best generals, Sorry! The empire does not have this for the time being) Xia Song, Fan Zhongyan, and Han Qi to the northwest in an attempt to restore the decline, but the effect was minimal.

At that time, the Northwest Army sang "There is Han (Qi) in the army, and the western thief is terrified when he hears about it; there is Fan (Zhong I) in the army, and the western thief is frightened when he hears it." Jin, in the northwest in 1040 AD, it was the people of the Northern Song Dynasty who were really frightened. It is not a matter of a day or two for party members to become big, so what have you done so long ago? Fan Zhongyan, who was defeated in the political struggle with the imperial prime minister Lu Yijian, was exiled to Runzhou, Yuezhou and other places not long after he received an order from the court calling on him to defend the Northwest (it was his deadly enemy Lu Yijian who recommended him, the old Lu It is hard to guess the intention of the move, whether it is out of the righteousness of not giving up on public affairs, or the mentality of letting you go to the Northwest to play with party members if you can, it is impossible to know, but the result is doomed—— - Achieved the reputation of Master Fan as the number one person in the Song Empire for three hundred years and a prime minister through the ages).

When Fan Zhongyan went to the northwest, he was very pragmatic and low-key. When he went to the northwest, he compared defense with Xixia people, not offense. On the battlefield in the northwest, the party members have already become elites, and they are fighting guerrilla warfare superbly. People in the Northern Song Dynasty had no war horses, let alone war generals. Fan Zhongyan was a literati. He knew that the pen could not be used as a gun, and all he could do was defend. Fortify the border!Fight protracted battles with party members, look for counterattack opportunities in defense, and train first-class side players in defense.

The hero sees the same thing. When Zhong Shiheng, who was a magistrate in Fuzhou at that time, submitted to him a proposal to build Qingjian City, Lao Fan's eyes lit up. This place is 200 miles northeast of Yanzhou (now Yan'an, Shaanxi). On the right, you can stick to Yanzhou, on the left, you can protect the grain roads in the east and west of the river, and at the same time, it can be used as a base for entering Tuyin and Xiazhou. Zhong Shiheng's suggestion was quickly approved, and he was ordered to build Qingjian City in the first year of Kangding (1040 A.D.). Yuan Hao was shocked when he learned that Zhong Shiheng was building Qingjian City. Zhong Shiheng's knife on the northwest battlefield was very fatal. While fighting with the Xixia people while building the city, Qingjian City was completed in that year.

In Qingjian City, Zhong Shiheng trained an iron army, to be precise, all the people in Qingjian City were soldiers.This general training method is really unique. The training camp in Qingjian City is open to all people in Qingjian City. If you happen to have no money to spend in Qingjian City, then I will tell you a way to make money, go to Qingjian City to train In the archery range of the camp, there are no targets, only hanging white silver coins, which belong to whoever can hit it. So any kid who came out of Qingjian City was a good archer when he picked up a bow and arrow, which later caused the people of Xixia to suffer a lot.

Some people may ask, where did Zhong Shiheng get so much money?In Qingjian City, Zhong Shiheng not only operates it as a military fortress, but also develops farmland and recruits various merchants to turn Qingjian City into a border trade city. The military expenditure allocated by the state has become a small part of the income of the old people.Having money has many advantages. In addition to being able to use money as a target, you can also recruit heroes from all walks of life to serve him (the monk Wang Song who later made great achievements is a talent recruited by the old kind). In addition, Zhong Shiheng is particularly good at making friends with ethnic minorities (except Xixia Dangxiang people), and he calls brothers and sisters with the surrounding ethnic minorities, drinks and eats meat, and mingles with each other.Once I went to visit a Qiang tribal leader. It was cold winter and the snow was knee-deep. His subordinates persuaded him that the snow was so heavy and it would be another day. Zhong Shiheng said no, and made an appointment with him, so he must go.Fengxue visits Qiang friends, and the other party is very moved.

Of course, sometimes the general will play a little tricky.Once, a leader of the Qiang tribe named Su Muen came to visit. Zhong Shiheng had heard that the eldest brother's biggest problem in his life was lust, so he found a beautiful woman and used beauty tricks to win over the comrade.However, General Zhong's "gifts" were delivered quite well. The old Zhong warmly entertained the chief. A cousin from far away, who has long admired Su Yingxiong's name, came here today to offer two glasses of wine to Xiongxiong. The beauty entered the table, poured soup on Chief Su, and gave frequent glances. Soon the chief had a strong physical and psychological reaction. Zhong Shiheng left the table in a timely manner, leaving the "cousin" to share the same account with the elder brother of the chief . The elder brother finally couldn't bear it anymore, picked up the beauty and began to gnaw. At this time, General Zhong came back at the most critical time. Looking at the two embarrassed men and women, General Zhong smiled and said that I was just about to introduce my cousin to you, but I didn’t expect you two to get along automatically, okay Yes, my cousin is betrothed to you. Chief Su is grateful to Dade, and from then on he will only follow his orders. Many years later, the Wang Po in "Water Margin" learned and used it to fulfill the first "dog man and woman" Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing in "Water Margin". The rewards for making friends with the Qiang people are rich.In just a few years, Fan Zhongyan recruited nearly 20,000 Qiang mercenaries in the area around Huanqing Road for use in the Northern Song Dynasty, most of which were attributed to General Zhong. Although Qingjian City was operating very well, at this time the Song Army in the Northwest Battlefield had suffered repeated defeats and was in overall decline.Facing the arrogant party members, the people of the Northern Song Dynasty needed a shot in the arm. It is obvious that such a mission cannot be accomplished on the frontal battlefield. But wars sometimes do not necessarily take place on battlefields filled with gunpowder. Another war is quietly unfolding in the northwest frontier, and the protagonists of the opposing sides are Yuan Hao VS Zhong Shiheng. The existence of Qingjian City and Zhong Shiheng made Yuan Hao restless. He knew that if the people of the Northern Song Dynasty continued this strategy and built castles one after another to the door of their house, then the party members would not be able to play peek-a-boo with the Northern Song Dynasty. ——Guerrilla warfare is their forte. The nail in Qingjian City must be pulled out. Fighting hard will definitely not work. First, Qingjian City is as solid as gold, and food and water sources are not a problem (Zhong Shiheng put in a lot of hard work to find water sources, and finally found several water sources tens of meters deep underground in the city), and secondly, Siege warfare is not the director of the party. What is hard cannot be soft, and force cannot be outmaneuvered, Yuan Hao thought so. Yuan Hao had read some of "Three Kingdoms", and he thought of Zhou Gongjin's trick against Cao Mengde - bitter tricks. This time Huang Gai is played by Yuan Hao's generals Yeli Wangrong and Yeli Yuqi. Brother Yeli is the leader of the Yeli tribe, one of the largest tribes in Xixia. He is in charge of the powerful Qiang army in the Hengshan area of ​​Xixia.At the same time, they are also Yuan Hao's brother-in-law - the brothers of Queen Yuan Hao Yeli. In the past two years, the relationship between Yuan Hao and his wife has not been very good, and Ye Li Yuqi's wife is not as beautiful and coquettish as Zang's. Yuan Hao drools every time he sees it. People seem to have heard about it, which provides the possibility for Yuan Hao to play a trick. Under Yuan Hao's instigation, the Yeli Brothers sent three younger brothers, Shangqi, Langbu, and Mei Niang, to Qingjian City to find Zhong Shiheng, saying that Yuan Hao was really not a fucking thing, not to mention the empress, and to leave him alone. Ye Li Yuqi's daughter-in-law fell asleep, Ye Li is still a man no matter how bad he is, can he tolerate this tone?Now prepare to surrender Da Song. The three idiots didn't know that they were really crows' mouths, and the elaborately fabricated stories soon became true lies. Facing the pies falling from the sky, Zhong Shiheng accepted them all. He took in three of them and appointed them as supervisors and tax officials. Soon, Zhong Shiheng sent a special envoy - his general, Wang Song, who had been a monk. When Wang Song came to join Zhong Shiheng, he was still a monk named Guangxin. Zhong Shiheng doted on him very much, provided him with good wine and meat every month, and did nothing.After half a year, Zhong Shiheng suddenly arrested Wang Song one day, saying that he had betrayed Zhong Shiheng, but Wang Song didn't know it, so he refused to admit it. Zhong Shiheng ordered people to torture him severely, and tortured him all over the place. I would not admit what Monk Wang said was nothing. In the end, Zhong Shiheng ordered Wang Song to put down Wang Song, who had been beaten to half his life, and took off his own robe and put it on him. To be honest, I have a big thing that I can entrust to you. Done. Soon Wang Song received this unusual task. In Yeli's tent, the Yeli brothers received the monks with high standards, and asked General Zhong what arrangements there were, and when we would lead our troops to surrender. Monk Guangxin didn't say a word, but just handed Brother Yeli a jujube branch and a picture of a turtle. Brother Nori had no culture, so he was confused, so he asked Mitsunobu, and Mitsunobu said that General Zhong asked me to bring this, and he didn't know anything else. Now the Ye Li brothers have nothing to do, they don't know what kind of medicine is sold in Zhong Shiheng's gourd. Yuan Hao had eyes and ears in the Yeli Tribe, and immediately knew about the Northern Song Dynasty sending someone, so he sent someone to ask the Yeli Brothers for a secret letter, but the Yeli Brothers had no choice but to hand over the monk Guangxin to Yuanhao. Yuan Hao tortured and extorted a confession, using the ten major torture methods of the party, and the monk Guangxin did not accept it. He was beaten to death and said that there was no secret letter, just a piece of tree branch and a picture of a turtle. Just when Yuan Hao was running out of patience, a breakthrough was made in the interrogation work. Guangxin recruited him and took out the secret letter that Zhong Shiheng had sent to Brother Yeli. In the letter, Zhong Shiheng warmly sent a call to Brother Yeli, saying, come on, brothers, you are welcome in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the officials of the Xiazhou Jiedushi will be reserved for you, and the monthly salary is ten times higher than that of the prime minister of the empire. This seemed to be exactly what Yuanhao and Yeli brothers hoped for, but Guangxin's performance made a qualitative change in the matter. If it was really step-by-step, why would Monk Guangxin bother to sing this play? Yuan Hao felt that something was wrong, could it be that they were singing the fake show, could it be that Ye Liyuqi knew that he was having an affair with his wife Wuzang. Yuan Hao with a guilty conscience decided to send his emissary Li Wengui behind Yeli brothers' backs. As Yeli's envoy, Li Wengui also received a high-level reception in Qingjian City. This time, Zhong Shiheng and Li Wengui agreed on the time and place of the incident. Li Wengui came back and told Yuan Hao that the Yeli brothers were probably going to turn against each other, and that the king had been fooled by them. Yuan Hao was shocked, and immediately arrested Ye Li Wangrong and beheaded him, and sent Ye Li Yuqi to prison. Chong Shiheng heard the news that Yeli Wangrong had been beheaded, and took people outside Qingjian City to burn yellow paper and mourn for Yeli Wangrong. It was so miserable, why did I, Zhong Shiheng, have a drink with you before I became famous with you, and you left!Zhong Shiheng's cry naturally reached Yuan Hao's ears again, and this cry also cried off Ye Li Yuqi's head in the prison (of course, Ye Li Yuqi's beautiful wife should also have his head dropped. important reason). After cutting off the two generals under his command, Yuan Hao patted his forehead and said, wait, what did we want to do at the beginning—oh, play a trick to earn money from Qingjian City, it's over, it's over, we've been fooled. By the time Yuan Hao understood, he had already lost his right and left arm. Ma'am, Yuan Hao earned one (no Zang clan), but the general is gone. Yuan Hao, who suffered from being dumb, made a move that puzzled everyone. He ordered the release of the Guangxin monk Wang Song who was imprisoned. Wang Song didn't care about it, he would be a dead ghost, and when he was full, he heard two words from Yuan Hao's mouth - peace. From then on, the Song and Xia parties entered the negotiation stage. After repeated bargaining, they finally reached a peace agreement, and the people of the Northern Song Dynasty once again got the opportunity to exchange money for peace. Zhong Shiheng eliminated the two generals of Xixia without bloodshed, and achieved the greatest record since the war between Song and Xia. In the fifth year of Qingli (1045 A.D.), Zhong Shiheng was ordered to build the thin waist city. After the city was completed, Shiheng died of illness. Zhong Shiheng didn't stay on the Northwest battlefield for a long time, he didn't lead many troops, and his official position was not high, but when the scholars of the empire evaluated the Northwest War, they unanimously rated that on the Northwest battlefield, the generals with the highest military exploits were Di Qing and Zhong Shiheng. and also.