Chapter 57 fourth quarter

After the Zhang Jue incident, friction continued between Song and Jin. First, the Jin soldiers who besieged Pingzhou came to ask for food and money; Xijing and the nearby eight prefectures, where the Jurchens should be handed over, did not see any movement from the Jurchens. Some of the officials in charge of the garrison (formerly Liao officials) took the initiative to negotiate with the Song people, saying that sooner or later it will be your land anyway, and I hope Those who can return to the Song Dynasty earlier, such as Han Zheng, the governor of Shuozhou, Su Jing, the governor of Yingzhou, and Chen Xu, a local tyrant of Weizhou, etc.

As his father-in-law is also in charge of the army, Tan Zhen has been suppressed by Tong Guan for many years. Now that he finally has a chance to make his mark, he naturally wants to strive for political achievements.The incident of Zhang Jue's surrender fell through. Now that Shuozhou and other places are coming to surrender, Tan Zhen is of course happy. After all, these places are different from Pingzhou, and these places belong to Song Ting (in the agreement). Tan Zhen pushed the boat along the river and sent people to recover the land in Yunzhong Mansion and other places behind the mountain.

The Jurchens got angry and said that I can give it to you but you can't snatch it. In the winter of the sixth year of Xuanhe (1124 A.D.), the Jin army sent troops and snatched back the Shuozhou, Yingzhou, and Weizhou that the Song people had recovered. This was the first military conflict between the Song and Jin Dynasties. Tan Zhen watched the three states gain and lose again, and did not take any military action to reinforce the defenders of the three states.The Jurchen felt that it was easier to fight the Song army than the Liao army. This strengthened their determination to go south.

One year after Tan Zhen took office, affairs in the north were in a mess, and the smell of gunpowder between Song and Jin became more and more intense. Zhao Ji angrily dismissed Tan Zhen. Even Wang Fu, the prime minister who strongly recommended Tan Zhen, was also implicated in this incident and was forced to apply for retirement.Zhao Ji re-appointed Tong Guan as Xuan Fu envoy of Hebei, Hedong and Yanshan Fulu to preside over the northern affairs. After Tong Guan took office, he sent Wuyi doctor Ma Kuo to Yunzhong to negotiate with Jin Ren on the delivery of Yunzhong Mansion.Ma Kuo negotiated for a long time after arriving in Yunzhong, but the Jurchens did not turn their backs, and kept the old excuse, you give us the people we want, and you will give us your territory.

After Ma Kuo came back, he told Tong Guan that the Jurchens might not give us the land behind the mountain, and the most urgent task is to strengthen the defense force of Yanshan Mansion. defense. Tong Guan said that the Jin Kingdom's rear is not stable now, and they will not attack us in a hurry. What Tong Guan said about the instability of the Jurchen's rear meant that Emperor Tianzuo still followed Jiashan far away. As long as Yelu Yanxi hides in Jiashan for a day, the Jurchens will naturally have scruples. Despite this, Eunuch Tong inspected Yanshan Mansion, dismissed Wang Anzhong, and replaced him with Ren Caijing; he also divided the garrison on Hebei Road into four groups, with Xin Xingzong in charge of Zhongshan Mansion, Ren Yuan in charge of Zhending Mansion, and Yang Huaizhong He was in charge of the Hejian Mansion, and Wang Yu was in charge of the Daming Mansion; he also ordered the various armies to recruit fugitive soldiers and homeless people to supplement their military strength, and took certain precautions in Hebei.

It's a pity that man's calculation is not as good as heaven's calculation. Yelu Yanxi, who was hiding in Jiashan, didn't know what was wrong, so he decided to go out of Jiashan and attack the Kingdom of Jin. Yelu Dashi's persuasion was ineffective, and he was unwilling to follow this lunatic to commit suicide, so he led 300 riders away and started his legendary journey to the west, and finally established his own country for the Khitan people at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains - Xiliao. After leaving Jiashan, Emperor Tianzuo became a chicken who couldn't run, and the Jurchen captured the last emperor of Liao without much effort.

At this time, the time frame was fixed in February of the seventh year of Xuanhe (AD 1125). The three remaining forces of Emperor Tianzuo, Zhang Jue, and Xiao Qian (who were helped to kill by the Song people) had all been eliminated, and the sword of the Kingdom of Jin could be aimed at the Song Dynasty. up. After Emperor Tianzuo was captured, Song Ting was still not vigilant enough. Everyone in the empire believed that giving the Jurchens so much silver a year would satisfy the Jurchens' appetite, so not only did Tong Guan not obey Ma Kuo's general The proposal to transfer the Northwest Army to Yanshan was actually submitted in October of the seventh year of Xuanhe, on the grounds of frontier stability, and requested that the commander-in-chief of the Ansu Army be changed to be the magistrate of Ansu County, the commander-in-chief of the Yongben Army be changed to be the magistrate of Boye County, and the commander-in-chief of the Baoding Army The commander-in-chief was changed to the magistrate of Baoding County, and all the checkpoints and border villages along the border were abolished and merged except for very important ones.Zhao Ji's instructions were approved and implemented.

On the other hand, the Kingdom of Jin quietly mobilized troops to the border, while continuing to paralyze the Song people. After capturing Emperor Tianzuo, they sent three groups of envoys to the Song Dynasty to celebrate the complete success of the maritime alliance between the two countries. Of course, it is impossible to make a large-scale military mobilization without making any noise.An official named Chen Jiao from the Yanshan Mansion was in charge of sending the third batch of envoys from the Kingdom of Jin out of the country. When they arrived at the territory of the Jurchens, Chen Jiao found that the Kingdom of Jin was gathering troops on a large scale, and the atmosphere was abnormal.Although spying on the military situation was not his task, after returning to Yanshan Mansion, he still reported this important military information to Cai Jing, the pacifier on Yanshan Road.As a result, Cai Jing angrily reprimanded him for hearing the rumors, creating an atmosphere of terror and almost punishing him.

In June, Ma Kuo received a report from spies ahead, saying that the Jurchens had frequent military activities in Feihu and Lingqiu counties.Ma Kuomi and Chen Tongguan once again requested that the Northwest Army be transferred to Zhongshan, Zhending and other places to station, and to send troops to Yizhou to prevent the Jurchens from attacking. Tong Guan once again ignored Ma Kuo's important military intelligence. In October, the news of the soldiers and horses of the Jin people gathered at the border continued to come from all directions, and even the common people on the border knew that the Jurchen was about to start a war against the Song court, but Tong Guan and others still had to wait for the Jin country to think about it. Delivery of land.

In mid-November, Tong Guan sent Ma Kuo and Xin Xingzong to Yunzhong Mansion again for two purposes. One was to tell the Jurchens that there were not as many Song people as there were in the eight prefectures of Xijing. But, to see if the Jurchens agree; the second is to see if the Jurchens really want to go to war with Song Ting. When Ma Kuo arrived at Yunzhong Mansion, Wanyan Zonghan (Nianhan), the coach of the Jin Army, formally refused the Song Army's request to cede Weizhou and Yingzhou, and there was no room for negotiation. Careful Ma Kuo discovered that the Jurchens were very polite to him this time, and Samu, the envoy of the Kingdom of Jin who accompanied him, said that the enthusiasm was due, and it was not easy for us to go back and forth so many times for the cooperation between the two countries. .

But I'm afraid it will be the last time, Samuel said to him with a smile, and there was a lot of meaning in the smile. Ma Kuo was speechless. Even though he had sharp shooting skills and a three-inch tongue, the country he represented did not have strong support, so he was still doomed to be a loser. And looking back, he saw that the inevitable dark cloud of war had enveloped his kingdom.