Chapter 3 Three borders moaning

The early Song Dynasty was an eventful time, and the emperor was always on the cusp of the storm. His neighbors didn't seem to want him to sleep peacefully. The rebellion in the west had just been put down, and the northern border was moaning again. Zhao Song has two neighbors in the north, one is Xixia and the other is Khitan. These two neighbors are like two wild wolves. They regard Song Ting's great river and mountain as a piece of fat. Although they have no appetite to swallow it all at once, they regard this great river and mountain as their huge warehouse and a population supply place Constantly harassing the borders of Zhao and Song Dynasties, they come to fetch food today and plunder the population tomorrow. They fetch food and transport it in groups in carts. Homes burned to ruins.They plundered people, like driving sheep, and drove tens of thousands of Zhao and Song people to their own country to be their slaves, create wealth for them, be their sexual slaves, and serve as a tool for them to vent their animal nature.

Here, let’s talk about Xixia first. When Zhao Henggang came to the throne, Li Jiqian of Xixia sent someone to Bianliang to present a table, congratulate the new emperor of the Song Dynasty on his accession to the throne, and ask for the feudal feudal title. During the Taizong Dynasty, Emperor Taizong once said that Li Jiqian was an extremely cunning and capricious villain. Of course Zhao Heng knew about this, and he also knew that Li Jiqian was a villain, but Emperor Taizong had just passed away, and the country was still in the midst of a great funeral, so he didn't want to be troublesome, so he accepted Li Jiqian's request and granted him the title of Ding Nan Jie Du He also rewarded Li Jiqian with the five prefectures of Xia, Sui, Yin, You, and Jing, and transferred Zhang Pu, the chief executive appointed by the imperial court, back to the capital.

Zhao Heng's handling didn't seem to use any brains, and the decision he made was somewhat contrary to common sense.It is not too much to entrust Li Jiqian as an envoy, and it is not bad to transfer Zhangpu back to Beijing. It seems a little inappropriate to award the land of Xia, Sui, Yin, You, and Jing. Li Jiqian begs for a peach, you can give him a peach and he will get it, a peach can temporarily appease this cunning wolf, but Zhao Heng is not like this, Li Jiqian begged for a peach, but he rewarded him with a big watermelon, Li Jiqian made a fortune . Li Jiqian was ecstatic after receiving the reward, and felt that the emperor Song was easy to talk to, so he sent his younger brother Li Yuan to Bianliang with some gifts to express his gratitude to the emperor of Song Dynasty.

Zhao Heng comforted him with kind words again, and gave Li Jiqian and Zhao Baoji's name back.The name Zhao Baoji was given to Li Jiqian by Emperor Taizong. Later, Li Jiqian was capricious and defected to the Khitan people, and kept harassing the border of the Song Dynasty. Emperor Taizong took back the name in a rage. In ancient times, it was a great honor to bestow the emperor's surname, and only those who had made great contributions to the country could enjoy this honor.For example, Xu Shixi in the Tang Dynasty, that is, the Xu Maogong in the novel, made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty. The Emperor Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty gave him the surname Li, so there are only Li Shixi in the official history, and Li (renamed to avoid Li Shimin’s taboo), Not to mention Xu Shi.

Who is Li Jiqian?He is not a hero of the Song Dynasty, but a dog who often steals food on the border of the Song Dynasty, a wolf who is insatiable.Zhao Heng was so generous to Li Jiqian, he just wanted to win him over with favors, tell him not to make trouble, and make the northern border more peaceful. Dogs can't change their habit of eating shit, and hungry wolves can't get enough to eat.Li Jiqian is a shit-eating dog and a wolf who can’t get enough to eat. After he got some benefits from the Emperor of Song Dynasty, he asked his younger brother Li Yuan to come to Bianliang to express his gratitude. Thank you Dade for what you mean.It didn't take long before he revealed his true colors as a white-eyed wolf, and led his stragglers to rob a few carts of food at a place on the border of the Song Dynasty today, kill a few people at a place B tomorrow, and find some good women in another place the day after tomorrow. Let out a bit of beastliness, and make the border of the Song Dynasty restless.Emergency documents from the border flew to Bianliang like snowflakes and were delivered to Zhao Heng's imperial case.

Zhao Heng also had a headache about the northern affairs, but he couldn't find a good way to deal with it. In fact, this is no wonder for him. Neither the heroic Taizong Zhao Kuangyin nor the ambitious Taizong Zhao Jiong could solve the problem. Yu Yin who inherited the throne, what can he do?He wanted to discuss with the two prime ministers to see if there was any good way. Coincidentally at this time, there was a problem in the relationship between Prime Minister Zhang Qixian and another prime minister Li Hang. They often quarreled and fought over some trivial matters, and it seemed that there was still a little bit of joy. Not only did the civil and military officials have some comments, but the emperor Zhao Heng was also a little annoyed.

At a court meeting in November of the third year of Xianping (1000), Zhang Qixian went to court drunk, smelled of alcohol, and couldn't speak clearly, which was really inappropriate. It is a very grand event for the emperor to go to court and all the officials discuss politics, and there is no room for carelessness.Zhang Qixian lost his composure because of drunkenness, which is disrespectful, and it is a crime of deceiving the emperor when analyzed online.If it is true, Zhang Qixian will be too hungry to walk around. The censor Su Maozhen couldn't see it anymore, and impeached Zhang Qixian on the spot, saying that he had lost etiquette in going to court while drunk, and had committed the crime of deceiving the emperor.If it was just impeachment by the imperial envoy, Zhao Heng might have to settle the matter, but someone stood up to compete.This person was another prime minister, Li Hang, who publicly stood up to support Yushi's opinion.

With Li Hang's support, the weight of Su Maozhen's impeachment is different.Zhao Heng asked Zhang Qixian what he had to say.Zhang Qixian said that he occasionally felt cold, so he drank a few sips of wine to keep out the cold, and he didn't want to drink too much, so he prostrated himself on the ground to plead guilty. Zhao Heng said: "You are the prime minister. If you have misconduct like this, how can you set an example for all civil and military officials? The court has express regulations, and I dare not favoritism!" Duties, keep this official. What is a guardian?According to historical records, Zhang Qixian's official position is the Minister of the Ministry of War, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Ping Zhangshi.After being dismissed from the position of prime minister, he returned to the province and continued to be his servant and Minister of the Ministry of war.This is the guardian.

In August of the fourth year of Xianping (1001), the ministers guarding the border sent an urgent document saying that Li Jiqian led his troops to haunt outside the Great Wall, and the convoys transporting food and salaries were often attacked by them and suffered great losses. Zhao Heng issued an edict ordering Zhang Qixian, Minister of the Ministry of War, to serve as appeasement envoys for Jing, Yuan and other states, and Bao'an, and Zhizhi Liang Hao as his assistant, and ordered them to go to the post on fast horses. Zhang Qixian wants to bid farewell to the emperor, which is called your majesty's speech.

Zhao Heng met Zhang Qixian, and apart from saying some words of encouragement to him, he also vomited bitterness, saying that Li Jiqian is a despicable and shameless villain, a dog who can't get enough to eat, and that he is not robbing food at the border of the Song Dynasty , It is to plunder the population and make the border restless. He is troubled by this matter, eats and sleeps restlessly, then changed the subject and asked: "I ordered you to appease the envoy, what are your plans?" Zhang Qixian believes that Lingwu is far away from the mainland, and it is an isolated city outside the Great Wall. Li Jiqian often does some sneaky things there.It is impossible for the people there to live a peaceful life.60,000 to 70,000 soldiers and civilians live there, in danger, and the imperial court has to spend a lot of food and salaries every year, which is really not worthwhile.Therefore, he suggested to abandon Lingwu, abandon the distance and seek the near, move the soldiers and civilians there to the interior, and retreat to Huanqing, so that it will be settled once and for all.

It's a pity that Zhang Qixian, who is full of economics, came up with such a bad idea. If the extended country is invaded by enemies, he will automatically give up the country for the sake of saving trouble. Wouldn't the land left by his ancestors be eaten away by foreign enemies? ? After listening to Zhang Qixian's suggestion, Zhao Heng thought for a while and said, "Go and have a look first before we talk about it! It depends on the specific situation at that time, you can discard it or discard it, and you must guard it if you can." Zhang Qixian led the order and left. He Liang, the general judge of Yongxing Army, learned that Zhang Qixian suggested to the emperor to give up Lingwu, and wrote a memorial called "Book of An Bian", strongly opposing the imperial court's abandonment of Lingwu. The general meaning of the memorial is: The Lingwu area is thousands of miles away, and there are mountains and rivers outside and inside. If it is abandoned, the benefits of the Rong and Di will be wide and generous, and there will be a trouble.From Huanqing to Lingwufan thousands of miles away, the Western Regions, Rong and Di are combined into one, and there are two troubles.The horses in northern Hebei were born from the rampant Xiongnu, no horses came south, only capitalized in the Western Regions, the Western Regions are divided into two, the right is the east of the Xirong, which is actually the territory of the Xia Dynasty, and the left is the west of the Western Regions, For example, she Lingwu, compounded into one, the Xia thief is cunning, and he can't serve the Zhu Rong with horses. It is unknown where the war horses come from, and there are three troubles.For the present plan, please build the two cities of Pule and Yaode to connect the grain road in the west of the river, so that Lingwu will have food to rely on, and even though it is outside the absolute territory, it can be safe.If you don't build these two cities and rely on Lingwu as your lips and teeth, how is it different from Shelingwu?I am afraid that if Lingwu is lost, the mainland will be in danger.Sincerely play! Zhao Heng read He Liang's memorial, swiped his imperial pen, and ordered officials of the fourth rank and above to circulate it, so that everyone could speak freely and discuss how to deal with Lingwu matters. Knowing Zhigao, Yang Yi supported Zhang Qixian's point of view, gave up Lingwu, and retreated to Huanqing.He also used the example of Han Qizhuya to defend his point of view. Han abandons Zhuya, which tells the story of Emperor Hanyuan, facing the severe famine in the country and being inconvenient to work thousands of miles, adopted Jia Donzhi's suggestion and gave up the expedition to Zhuya County (Hainan Island) at the ends of the world. Lingwu is an isolated city outside the Great Wall in the Song Dynasty, which is equivalent to Zhuya.The Han Dynasty could give up Zhuya, why can't our Dynasty give up Lingwu? Among the military officials in North Korea and Chinese, most people agree with He Liang's opinion. They believe that Lingwu is located in the fortress of the Hexi Corridor. It has an important strategic position and is a battleground for military strategists. With a barrier, Xixia Rongdi will drive straight in and invade the mainland even more recklessly. Two views, the tip of the needle against the wheat, neither can convince the other.Zhao Heng saw that the officials did not form a unified opinion, and some were in trouble, so he specially summoned Prime Minister Li Hang to ask for his opinion. Li Hang believes that if Li Jiqian is not dead, Lingwu cannot be owned by the imperial court.He also suggested that the imperial court abandon Lingwu and send special envoys to Lingwu to retreat the soldiers and civilians in Lingwu, saying that this was a strategy of stinging hands and cutting wrists. The wrist was stung by a poisonous bee, and the poison spread upwards, endangering his life. In order to save his life, he had to cut off his wrist, which was a sting and severed wrist.It has the same meaning as Han abandoning Zhuya and throwing pawns to protect chariots. Li Jiqian is an insatiable dog with insatiable greed and unsatisfactory desires. If he is given Lingwu, will the border really be peaceful?Those who advocate abandoning Lingwu seem to have not seriously considered this issue. Great rivers and mountains, hand in hand, not many of Zhao Heng's courtiers are bloody. After hearing Li Hang's words, Zhao Heng just kept silent and didn't express his opinion. Seeing that Zhao Heng neither objected nor agreed, and had no intention of speaking, Li Hang quietly withdrew. Bereavement is a very shameless thing, and such things must be recorded by historians.Zhao Heng didn't want to be an eternal sinner who humiliated the country. He wanted to defend Lingwu and save face for the court. Shortly thereafter, Zhao Heng issued an edict ordering Wang Chao to lead his troops to reinforce Lingwu. Wang Chao sent out Lingwu and sent a message to the civil and military officials that the emperor wanted to protect Lingwu. Zhao Heng finally made a correct decision.It is all nonsense and nonsense that the Han abandoned the Pearl Cliff, stabbed the hand and cut the wrist. Lingwu is the land of the Song Dynasty, and the land cannot be easily given up. Zhang Qixian learned that Wang Chao led troops to reinforce Lingwu, and knew that the emperor wanted to protect Lingwu. He sent a memorial to the imperial court, saying that the imperial court was determined to guard Lingwu, and suggested sending more troops. If there are not enough troops, they can go to the south of the Yangtze River Recruit strong men and send them to the front line. Zhao Heng believed that recruiting strong men from Jiangnan would not only shake people's hearts, but also that it would be inconvenient to transfer young men from Jiangnan to the north to guard the border, so Zhang Qixian's suggestion was not adopted. At the end of the fourth year of Xianping (1001), Li Jiqian invaded the Song Dynasty on a large scale. First, he led the army to attack the Qingyuan Army. Qingyuan City was captured by bandits. After Li Jiqian captured Qingyuan City, he turned to attack Dingzhou and Huaiyuan, and robbed hundreds of vehicles of the Song army's food, grass and supplies. Fortunately, the deputy capital deployed Cao Can to lead the army to attack, and Li Jiqian was repelled. This Cao Can is Cao Bin's eldest son. In March of the fifth year of Xianping (1002), Li Jiqian joined forces with various tribes in Xixia to attack Lingwu. The state governor Pei Ji led the army and people to defend Lingwu City, and fought fiercely with the bandits. The two armies held each other for several months. Still an undefeated game. While Li Jiqian increased his troops to besiege Lingwu City, he sent troops to cut off the Song army's food road.Seeing that the food and grass in the city were almost exhausted, Pei Ji bit his finger and wrote a blood letter, asking the imperial court to send reinforcements, but the person delivering the letter was intercepted by Li Jiqian on the way.The soldiers and civilians in the city are desperate for help, but there is no sign of reinforcements.A day or two of hunger is enough for a person to starve. After a long time, the soldiers were no longer able to fight. Li Jiqian led the bandits to capture Lingwu, and Pei Ji led the troops to fight the enemy in the streets, and died of exhaustion. Pei Ji had known Lingzhou for several years, where he cultivated farms, developed production, managed Lingwu in an orderly manner, and won the support of the people. Unfortunately, he died before his achievements were completed, and ended up being dumped on a barren hill. After Li Jiqian captured Lingwu, he changed Lingwu to Xiping Mansion as the capital of Xixia. After Zhao Heng learned the news that Lingwu was lost and Pei Ji died in battle, he regretted not listening to Li Han and others' advice and giving up Lingwu, which eventually led to the loss of Lingwu and the death of a good general in battle.On the one hand, he ordered the relevant departments to give preferential treatment to Pei Ji's family members, and on the other hand, he ordered Wang Chao to garrison the Yongxing Army, so there should be no more mistakes. In fact, Zhao Heng himself was responsible for the loss of Lingwu, because he wanted to protect Lingwu, but he used it inhumanely.When general Cao Bin was dying, Zhao Heng once asked him who would be the general to resist the enemy after a hundred years.Cao Bin recommended his two sons Cao Can and Cao Wei to Zhao Heng.Zhao Heng didn't use the general, but instead used an incompetent Wang Chao.Wang Chao was ordered to reinforce Lingwu, but he was delayed for such a long time on the way, resulting in the tragedy of Lingwu falling, good generals died in battle, and heavy casualties among soldiers and civilians. Wang Chao missed the battle opportunity and Lingwu fell, and he has an inescapable responsibility.Zhao Heng didn't hold him accountable, he just said lightly "Don't do it again" and it was over.Those who committed crimes were not punished, and those who violated military laws were not prosecuted. It is no wonder that the generals of the Song Dynasty were always defeated. In May of the sixth year of Xianping (1003), Li Jihe, the Zhizhen Rongjun, provided important information to the imperial court, saying that Pan Luozhi, the chief of the Liugu Department, was willing to attack Li Jiqian, and asked the imperial court to appoint Pan Luozhi as the governor.Zhang Qixian also wrote a letter, please make Pan Luozhi the king of Liugu, and also recruit envoys. Zhao Heng ordered several assistant ministers to hold a meeting to decide.The ministers believed that since Pan Luozhi was already the chief, it would be too light to confer the post of governor, and it would be too heavy to be conferred the title of prince suddenly.The official position of recruitment envoy should not be conferred lightly to foreign barbarians. After discussion, it was drafted that Shuofang Jiedu envoy and the inspection envoy of the western capital of Lingzhou should also be granted. Zhao Heng agreed with the motion proposed by the ministers, and issued an imperial edict to appoint Pan Luozhi as Shuofang Jiedu envoy, and concurrently as the inspection envoy of the western capital of Lingzhou. After Pan Luozhi received the title, he expressed his thanks and said that he had assembled 60,000 cavalry, waiting for the arrival of the royal army, they would join forces to attack Li Jiqian and recover Lingzhou. Zhao Heng issued another edict to reward Pan Luozhi. Soon thereafter, Li Jiqian attacked Linzhou, was repelled by the army and civilians led by Zhizhou Wei Jubao, turned to Xiliang, killed Ding Weiqing of Xiliang Prefecture, and occupied Xiliang City. Pan Luozhi lived in Liugu and was originally a vassal of Xiliang. He decided to use a feigned surrender to eliminate Li Jiqian. Li Jiqian didn't know that Pan Luozhi was appointed to the Song court, and thought he was just a tribal chieftain, and he came to surrender because he was afraid of his military might, and he didn't doubt Pan Luozhi's sincerity at all.Seeing that Pan Luozhi led his troops to surrender, he immediately sent an order to meet him. After Pan Luozhi entered the city, he knelt down to Li Jiqian, and then praised Li Jiqian for being expelled from the Great Wall. He was so powerful in Xiliang, and all the vassal tribes in Liugu were willing to surrender. He gave Li Jiqian some high hats, and then expressed his willingness to obey his orders command. Li Jiqian wore several high hats one after another, and with a happy face, he immediately placed a seat for Pan Luozhi by his side, and spoke kindly to Pan Luozhi with a smile on his face. Li Jiqian ordered Pan Luozhi to recruit tribes and expand his army.Pan Luozhi readily agreed, returned to his residence, gathered Liugu's vassals, and came to Xiliang to meet Li Jiqian together. Li Jiqian personally went to the school grounds to inspect the Liugu fan soldiers brought by Pan Luozhi. Some of the fan soldiers were armed with knives and guns, and some were armed with crossbow arrows. They lined up to accept Li Jiqian's review. Pan Luozhi walked in front with a crossbow arrow in his hand, and stood still ten steps away from Li Jiqian. He ordered the Fanbing soldiers to stand in line and not to make any noise, but secretly watched Li Jiqian's every move, and found that Li Jiqian was watching intently. A group of Fan soldiers who had just entered had no defense against their own side. They suddenly bent their bows and set up arrows, aiming at Li Jiqian and shooting an arrow. Li Jiqian was paying attention to the inspection when he suddenly heard the sound of the bowstring, and hurriedly opened his eyes to look around. It happened that an arrow flew in, impartially, and hit his left eye. Li Jiqian yelled: "Quick! Quick! Take the bandit!" Hearing Li Jiqian's screams on the left and right, they were about to step forward to protect Li Jiqian, but unexpectedly, the soldiers brought by Pan Luozhi rushed up with weapons in their hands.Li Jiqian's subordinates resisted desperately, but many people had been killed, leaving a few brave bianmu to protect Li Jiqian, fighting and fleeing.Fanbing fought bravely and almost captured Li Jiqian.Li Jiqian's buddies tried their best to rescue him, but finally let him escape. Li Jiqian fled back to Lingzhou. His left eye was in unbearable pain. He ordered someone to pull out the flying arrow stuck in his eye. He didn't want to bring out his eyeball too. He screamed and passed out.Finally, because the treatment was ineffective, he died. Li Deming, Li Jiqian's son, inherited his father's position and sent someone to report his father's death in battle to Khitan.Khitan bestowed Li Jiqian with the title of Shang Shuling, and named Li Deming King of Xiping. The guardian of Huanqing, because Li Deming had just succeeded to the throne, and the vitality of the tribe was seriously injured, he asked the imperial court to issue an order to surrender. Zhao Heng issued an edict to Lingzhou to recruit Li Deming. Li Deming sent the tooth general Wang Yu to surrender.The imperial court discussed adding the title of Li Deming, but Cao Wei, the Zhizhen Rongjun, raised a different opinion. He suggested taking advantage of the momentum to destroy Xixia and inviting Ying to fight.The approximate meaning of the memorial is: Li Jiqian, the rebel chieftain, had been good at Hexi for 20 years, and his soldiers were not disarmed, which made Song Dynasty worry about going west.Now his son is dangerous and the country is weak, so if he is not immediately captured and destroyed, he will become stronger in the future and cannot be controlled.May the false ministers and elite soldiers catch Deming and send him to the palace by surprise, so that Hexi can be restored as a county. This is the right time.Stand by and stand by without any responsibility! Cao Wei is the second son of Cao Bin. Cao Bin praised him as a general. Cao Wei's memorial reached the court, but Zhao Heng didn't take it seriously after reading it.Some ministers in the DPRK and China also said that the mourning is unjust, and it is not as good as Enga Li Deming.So Li Deming was appointed as the envoy of the Dingnan Army Jiedu, and he governed the five states of Xia, Yin, Sui, You, and Jing.Later, it was heard that the Khitan named Li Deming the King of Xiping, so he also made him the King of Xiping.