Chapter 63 third quarter

On the second day of the first lunar month in the first year of Jingkang (1126 A.D.), the news of the fall of Junzhou reached Kaifeng. The Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji heard about it and waved the wings he had wanted to flap for a long time—fly. The next day, he announced that he would go to Bozhou to burn incense. The Tai Historian made a fortune for him, saying that it would be auspicious to leave on the fourth day of the lunar new year, but he couldn't wait for the fourth day, so he took the queen, prince and emperor (princess) and fled south by boat on the third night of the first day. The son didn't have time to host a banquet for his father to see him off, and even his former confidants didn't let him know.

But after hearing that the former old club had run away, Cai You, Tong Guan and others still fled southward with the old club without hesitation. They knew that once the emperor and the courtiers were in trouble, everyone shouted and beat them. They had to hug Zhao Ji to the death. A piece of dead wood is used as a lifebuoy. The father ran away, and the son's heart was also frightened. Although he issued a personal edict in the third year of junior high school, he had no confidence in the defense of the capital.And on the morning of the fourth day of the lunar new year, when the ministers were discussing, the ministers headed by Prime Minister Bai Shizhong proposed to give up traveling to Xiangyang in Tokyo.

Zhao Huan was very tempted by this proposal, but Li Gang stood up and expressed his opposition, and Zhao Huan had no choice but to accept the reason for his opposition. Zhao Huan, the reason why you can become emperor is because the Supreme Emperor asked you to stay in Tokyo and guard this stall for him. Now that you have run away, how can your emperor be justified? Bai Shizhong couldn't refute it, so he asked angrily, speaking better than singing, who will be in charge of defending the city, you? Li Gang said that if I keep it, I will keep it, it's no big deal. Li Gang is Li Gang, although we can say that his road to rise is not much different from that of the contemporaries. He needs cronies, but at the time when the empire was most in crisis, he showed a kind of temperament that the contemporaries of the imperial literati did not have - arrogance.

This temperament has been passed down among the top literati in the empire, from Kou Zhun to Fan Zhongyan, from Fan Zhongyan to Wang Anshi, from Wang Anshi to Li Gang. Because they are the elite among the elites of this era, they are the protagonists of this era, so they are fearless, and no storm can make them feel guilty. Looking at Li Gang, Zhao Huan suddenly felt a lot more confident, and his legs were no longer so weak. He was overjoyed and agreed to let Li Aiqing take charge of the defense of Tokyo. "Wait!" Li Gang's voice was an octave higher, saying that I can defend the city, but I am a small official now, and the highest military officer responsible for defending Tokyo should at least be one of the empire's chief ministers.

Zhao Huan hurriedly asked the left and right officials if there were any vacancies in the establishment of the governor, and the answer he got was that Shangshu Youcheng Yu Wenxuzhong had just followed the Supreme Emperor to Bozhou to burn incense, and the position was vacated.Zhao Huan made the decision on the spot, and Li Gang changed from Minister of War to Minister Youcheng (from Deputy Minister of Defense to Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Punishment, and Ministry of War). The appointment of personnel has been made, but Li Gang has not finished, saying that the boss has not issued uniforms yet.

Zhao Huan patted his head and said that he almost forgot that he had to wear a purple robe when he entered the cabinet to pay respects, so he hurriedly made a new uniform for Li Gang. The play that Li Gang staged when the army was approaching the city was very much the style of a talented student most admired by Tai students, and the collapse of the sky was still unhurried, which well eased the tension of the upper echelons of the empire. Of course, the emotional relief was temporary. When the emergency meeting was held again in the afternoon, calls for the new emperor to go hunting in Chang’an spread again in the court. The Minister of the Ministry of Officials knew the Privy Council, and Li Wei stayed behind as his deputy.

At the end of the meeting, Zhao Huan's confidant eunuch told Zhao Huan quietly that your wife, aunt, father-in-law are all out of the city now, and it will be too late if the boss doesn't leave. Zhao Huan's heart has already fluttered, he just wants to run, this emperor can do whatever he likes. He almost cried and said to Li Gang that Li Aiqing should not keep me anymore, you should guard Tokyo for me, and I will go to Shaanxi and bring troops back to rescue you. Li Gang didn't do it, and took out his literati's specialty, crying, splashing, hitting the pillar, hugging the emperor's thigh and saying that you can't go.

At this time, the two princes, King Yan and King Yue, also supported Li Gang and comforted Zhao Huan, saying that the situation was not as bad as he had imagined. Come back and take another look at the situation to make a final decision. Zhao Huan agreed to stay, and told Li Gang that I would leave my wealth and life to you, Aiqing. Discussing the emperor's fate was delayed for a day. In the evening, Li Gang and others had to work overtime with his subordinates in Shangshu province to arrange city defense. Zhao Huan hadn't slept well yet. At this time, the servant came back and told him that his family members had gone far away and could not be chased back.

When Zhao Huan heard that he lost his wife, he couldn't sit still anymore, so he called Bai Shizhong, the chief executive who insisted on running away, and asked him to prepare the relevant documents and utensils overnight, and leave quietly the next morning without disturbing his brain. Li Youcheng. Li Gang worked an all-night shift, and went directly to court without taking a break. When he went to the street, the people were talking in groups that the emperor was leaving.Li Gang hurried to the Xiangxi Palace, and saw that the guards of the imperial guards in the palace were all dressed up, the travel vehicles and guards of honor had all been arranged, and Zhao Huan's hunting team was about to set off.

At this time, he knew that he could not keep the emperor alone. Outside Xiangxi Temple, he delivered a passionate speech to the brothers of the imperial army, calling on the soldiers to stay and defend their homeland. Li Gang's influence is huge. He finally inspired the long-lost passion of the imperial soldiers. The soldiers shouted patriotic slogans outside Xiangxi Temple and vowed to defend Tokyo to the death. Immediately, Li Gang dragged Wang Zongchu, commander of the Forbidden Army, into Zhao Huan, and said, Your Majesty, have you heard the voice from outside?The soldiers are all willing to defend their home and country in Tokyo. Even if you take them on a tour to the west, but people's minds change, how many soldiers are willing to follow? What if there is a mutiny?The soldiers all ran away, who will protect you if the golden soldiers catch up?

Zhao Huan finally decided to stay, because he knew that he couldn't leave and had to stick to Tokyo. On the fifth day of the first month of the first year of Jingkang, Zhao Huan, who was determined to stay behind, dismissed the peacemaker Bai Shizhong (of course, Bai Shizhong was an opponent on the issue of abdication, and it would be a matter of time before he was cleared), Li Bangyan was promoted to Dazai, Zhang Bangchang As Shaozai, Wu Min knew the affairs of the Privy Council, Zhao Ye was the servant of the door, Li Gang was the envoy for the personal conquest, Cao Yu, the Taiwei of Ma Jun, was the deputy envoy, and Wang Zongchu was the commander of the Dianqian Division. A wartime headquarters was established. The wartime headquarters firstly strengthened the city defense, secondly ordered the Quartet Army King Ma Qin, and thirdly sent envoys to Jinying to seek hope for peace talks. On the sixth day of the first lunar month, the first King Qin's troops arrived in Tokyo under the leadership of Wu Ge, the general of the Jingyuan Army, and gave Zhao Huan a boost. Before the Jin army approached the city of Kaifeng on the seventh day of the first lunar month, the Song people were basically ready. After Wanyan Zongwang (Han Libu) stationed in the Xiazhai of Muchigang in the northwest of the city, he immediately launched a strong attack on the Suanzao Gate in Xishuimen. Li Gang organized the Kaifeng army and people to repel the attack of the Jurchens. On the ninth day of the lunar new year, the Jin army intensified its attack and stormed Tongtian and Jingyangmen. Li Gang personally led a thousand archers to assist in the battle and shot and killed many siege soldiers.Later, the Jin army changed to attack Fengqiu, Weizhou and other gates, but they were all repelled. From morning to afternoon, the Jin army lost thousands of troops and encountered the biggest blow since the southern invasion. While the two sides are fighting fiercely, diplomatic negotiations are also underway. As soon as Jin Bing arrived in Kaifeng, Zhao Huan sent Zheng Wangzhi, a member of Shang Shujia's department, as an envoy, to "comfort" the Jin Army with 10,000 taels of gold. In fact, the Song people never gave up on seeking peace talks from the beginning to the end.When Emperor Huizong knew that Jin soldiers were invading south, a small official from Li Ye offered to go to Jinying to seek peace. Zhao Ji sent him to Jinying with a lot of gold.Wanyan Zongwang (Han Libu) accepted the gold without mentioning the peace talks at all.In order to reduce his own crimes, Li Ye described the Jurchens as "people are like tigers, horses are like dragons, mountains are like apes, people and water are like otters, their momentum is like Mount Tai, and China is like eggs." Give things" nickname. After Wanyan Zongwang (Han Libu) accepted the red envelope again, he sent a Yanren named Wu Xiaomin as an envoy to return and asked for the withdrawal of troops. Zhao Huan said that it is definitely not possible to cede the land. If you want money, you can discuss it. After two rounds of strong attacks failed, Wanyan Zongwang (Han Libu) finally took the initiative to send envoys to see the Song people, and put forward three demands. One is that the Song Dynasty send a prince to the Kingdom of Jin as a hostage. With the Yellow River as the boundary, the third is to labor the army and silver. Li Gang, who was in charge of guarding the city, knew that after the peace talks started, he took the initiative to ask to go to the Jinying to negotiate with the Jurchens.But Zhao Huan refused. He felt that Li Gang's temper was too strong, and he would definitely anger the Jurchens if he went there. Later, he sent Li Wei, a member of the Privy Council who had a weak personality, as the envoy, and then took Zheng Wangzhi and others to the Jinying for negotiations. Li Yan and others left the city, and were almost shot to death by the golden men because it was already dark. When they arrived at Jinying, they couldn't speak clearly, but they just brought back the conditions offered by Zongwang: 5 million taels of gold and 5,000 silver. 10,000 taels, 10,000,000 silks each, 10,000 horses, camels, mules, and donkeys each, 2,000,000 coins per year, and repatriate all Yanyun civilian officials who fled to the Song Dynasty, and then cut Taiyuan, Zhongshan, The three towns of Hejian, and sent a prince to the Kingdom of Jin as a hostage, and sent a prime minister to the Kingdom of Jin to delineate the boundaries of the three prefectures together. After Li Yan left, the Jin people laughed and said why the Song people sent a woman to the army to negotiate. After Li Dian returned to the city, he reported the results to Zhao Huan. Zhao Huan was distressed by Jurchen's lion, but he couldn't make up his mind to refuse, so he asked Li Dian to discuss with the ministers. The result of the discussion between the ministers headed by the two ministers Li Bangyan and Zhang Bangchang was that the Jurchens would be given a 50% discount on the money, and the conditions for sending the prince to cede the land were fully agreed. Li Gang objected to this deliberation result. Taiyuan, Hejian, and Zhongshan are the border fortress barriers. The Jurchen raid failed to conquer these three fortified walls. How could they voluntarily cede to the Kingdom of Jin, let alone so much money at once? Isn't it the end of the empire?As for sending the prince and prime minister as a hostage, that would be too embarrassing for the empire. He had a fierce quarrel with Li and Zhang Erda, but most of the literati in the court expressed their support for the latter with silence. Li Gang was powerless, he found himself alone and alone, from a middle-level cadre of the empire to the soul figure who saved the empire, his qualifications were too young, and his prestige was not high enough, he could not shake the cunning and timid leaders. He offered to resign, but Zhao Huan of course disagreed, saying that Li Aiqing, you have to guard the city for me, and they can just decide the peace talks. The negotiation of peace was unstoppable. As for the prince as a hostage, Kang Wang Zhaogou (later Song Gaozong) took the initiative to ask Ying to go to the Jinying as a hostage when he was in danger, and the prime minister sent Zhang Bangchang, a young prime minister; All the wealth in order to satisfy the huge appetite of the Jurchens. But in the end, Li Gang withheld the imperial edict for ceding the three towns. In his opinion, this was the lifeblood of the empire and could never be ceded. Under the circumstances at that time, it was a good way to use money to hold back the greedy Jurchens. On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhong Shidao, whom Li Gang was most looking forward to, finally led his troops to Kaifeng.