Chapter 25 two who lit the powder keg

Wang Anshi is a rather controversial figure. After he entered Beijing, he attracted widespread attention.Many people think that Wang Anshi is a talented person. If he is reused, he will be able to do a great cause of saving the world.But there are also people who hold different opinions. Representatives include Wu Kui, Zhang Fangping, and Han Qi.They think that Wang Anshi is a sensationalist who cannot be used, and if he uses it, he will cause trouble. Two people even asserted that Wang Anshi was a treacherous villain: one was Su Xun from Meishan, who wrote an article called "Discrimination of Traitors". to read.The point of the article is to identify traitors, but every sentence alludes to Wang Anshi, saying that Wang Anshi is a big treacherous person.The other is Li Shizhong, the magistrate of Luochuan County. When Wang Anshi was the magistrate of Yin County, Li Shizhong said that he had "white eyes" and was a treacherous person. If Wang Anshi was in power, the world would be in chaos.

While people were discussing Wang Anshi, a memorial by Li Shizhong diverted people's attention. Li Shizhong was a native of Chuqiu, and once served as the governor of Jingyuan. He was familiar with the situation on the border since he was a child. When he grew up, he won the imperial examination and the first examination, became a magistrate of Luochuan County, and was later transferred to Fuzheng County. He became more familiar with border affairs. After Zhao Xu succeeded to the throne, Li Shizhong was promoted to the prefect of Fengxiang. The guard of Qingjian, Zhong Er, sent troops to recover Suizhou.Li Shizhong thought it was too hasty to provoke a war on the border, and asked the court to treat this matter with caution.

Although there has been a truce between Song and Xia for many years, incidents of stumbling and stumbling on the border between the two countries still occur frequently. Those stragglers from Xixia rush to the Song Dynasty to grab a few stones of grain today, and go to the Song Dynasty to kidnap a few women tomorrow. However, it was just a small fight, and no major military conflict occurred, so the top leaders of the two countries were not alarmed. The border between Song and Xia is like a powder keg, which may erupt at any time.It's just that the people who lit the fire this time were not those from the Xixia tribe, but Song Ting's side general Zhong Er.

The lord of Xixia, Yuan Hao, died in the eighth year of Renzong Qingli (1048). At that time, Emperor Renzong sent an envoy to Xixia to comfort him, and canonized Yuanhao's son Liangzuo as the lord of Xia.Money and materials are still given to Xixia according to the agreement every year, and Liang Zuo also pays tribute to the Song Dynasty with the local products of Xixia as usual.There is no problem between the two countries. After Emperor Renzong died, Emperor Yingzong succeeded to the throne.Liang Zuo, the lord of the Xixia Kingdom, once sent his envoy Wu Zong to Bianliang to congratulate him.Unexpectedly, after Wu Zong came to Bianliang, he would speak disrespectfully to the emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty and lost his etiquette. Yingzong issued an imperial edict to Xixia, ordering forgive Zuozhi Wu Zong's crime of disrespect.

Liang Zuo, the lord of the Western Xia Dynasty, inherited his Lao Tzu's lineage, and only wanted to benefit from Song. As for how to be courteous to Song, he didn't take it seriously at all.Not only did he refuse to obey the edict, but in the third year of Zhiping (1066), he led his troops to attack Qin, Feng, and Jingyuan, and the soldiers approached Dashun City. Cai Ting, the envoy of Huan and Qing Jing, led Zhao Ming and others to reinforce Dashun.The two armies set up a battlefield outside Dashun City. Liang Zuo, wearing silver armor and a felt hat, personally supervised the battle in front of the army.Cai Ting dispatched crossbowmen to line up in front of the two armies, firing arrows at Xia Bing in turn.Xia Bing suffered heavy casualties, and Liang Zuo was also shot.

Seeing that he couldn't find a bargain in Dashun City, Zhuo Zuo led his army to attack Rouyuan. Cai Ting sent Zhang Yu, the deputy general manager, to lead the army to attack Xiaying for three thousand nights, killing Xia Bing, throwing away his armor and armor, and fled in defeat.The Xixia army retreated to Jintang. At this time, the old coins given to Xixia by the Song court according to the agreement were issued. Lu Shen, the magistrate of Yanzhou, saw that Xixia was at war with the Song Dynasty, so he withheld the batch of old coins, and flew to report to the court, saying that the court was like this. To appease and raise traitors, Xia Bing was causing trouble on the Song border, but the imperial court gave them old coins. This is an act of feeding on wolves.He suggested that the imperial court send envoys to question the Xixia Lord, and it would not be too late to give the old coins after the Xixia Lord apologized.

After receiving Lu Shen's report, Emperor Yingzong asked Prime Minister Han Qi. Han Qi advocated questioning Xixia, and of course agreed with Lu Shen's suggestion.The imperial court ordered Lu Shen, the magistrate of Yanzhou, to issue a document to Youzhou, interrogating Xixia Lord Liang Zuo. Liang Zuo suffered several defeats in a row, and he was already very frustrated. In addition, the disaster of war was provoked by Xixia. And promised to severely punish the border officials who caused trouble. When Liang Zuo's apology was delivered to Bianliang, it was the time when Yingzong Bintian and Zhao Xu succeeded to the throne.

Zhao Xu saw Liang's deceitful apology, and issued an imperial edict to Liang Zuo, to the effect that over the years, Xixia soldiers have repeatedly invaded the Song border, plundered property, plundered people, and burned villages. Xixia has violated the covenant.The subjects inside and outside the imperial court were indignant and demanded that the invading enemy be severely punished.God has the virtue of good life, and I don't want Song and Xia to rekindle the war.Lord Xixia, please abide by the covenant, restrain the people, and refrain from making troubles on the Song border. If such things happen again, it will be difficult for me to convince the ministers.

After receiving the imperial edict, Liang Zuo sent people to Bianliang to mourn Yingzong's ascension to heaven and celebrate Zhao Xu's succession to the emperor. This winter.Wei Yishan, the younger brother of Wei Mingshan, the supervisor of Xia Suizhou, begged Qingjian City to surrender. Chong Er, the guard of Qingjian City, is the son of Zhong Shiheng, the general of Song Dynasty.After Zhong Er was surrendered, he sent a secret envoy to send a letter to Wei Yishan, ordering him to recruit his elder brother Wei Mingshan, and at the same time sent him a golden bowl. It happened that Wei Mingshan was going out, and a close friend of Wei Mingshan named Li Wenxi was overjoyed after receiving the golden bowl, so he discussed with the secret envoy who sent the letter a plan, and asked Song soldiers to attack Wei Mingshan's camp. At the same time, you can take advantage of the momentum to get Suizhou.

The secret envoy returned to Qingjian City and reported to Zhong Er the plot planned by Wei Mingshan's confidant Li Wenxi. Kinder immediately sent someone to fly to the imperial court, and at the same time notified Lu Shen, the magistrate of Yanzhou. Lu Shen believed that the captives came to surrender, and it was difficult to distinguish the authenticity from the false, so he immediately appealed to the court and warned Zhong Er not to act rashly. After Zhao Xu received Lu Shen's memorial, he ordered Xue Xiang and Lu Shen Xiang Zhonger to find out the reliability of the surrender, and then decide on a further countermeasure depending on the situation.

Xue Xiang and Lu Shen summoned Zhong Er as special envoys of the imperial court to inquire about the situation of the surrender, and Zhong Er reported the situation to them in detail. Lu Shen always believed that this matter was fraudulent, and opposed such a sneak attack decision.Xue Xiang, on the other hand, deliberately agreed with Zhong Er's motion. It was agreed that both opinions would be written down and presented to the court.The memorial was written by Xue Xiang, and Zhang Muzhi, the shogunate, was sent to Beijing to present the memorial. Zhang Muzhi was secretly instructed by Zhong Er and Xue Xiang. After entering Beijing, he stated to Zhao Xu that Zhong Er's strategy was feasible. Zhao Xu was so overjoyed, and after hearing Zhang Muzhi's correct performance, he thought there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, and he was happy to launch an army.He suspected that Lu Shen was unwilling to cooperate with him, so he was hindered by it, so he transferred Lu Shen to Qin Feng, and handed over the task of recovering Suizhou to Xue Xiang and Zhong Er. Chong Er was impatient and eager to do meritorious service. Before the imperial court's order came down, he led his troops to sneak into Suizhou and surround the camp in Weiming Mountain. Unprepared, Wei Mingshan was suddenly besieged by the Song army, and he was in a hurry. His confidant Li Wenxi brought Wei Yishan in again, and jointly persuaded Wei Mingshan to surrender to the Song Dynasty. Seeing that the general situation was over, Wei Mingshan had no choice but to mobilize the crowd to surrender, a total of 300 leaders, 15,000 households, and 10,000 soldiers. The kinder supervisor built a city in Suizhou to strengthen its defense. When the Xia people saw that the Song army had captured Suizhou, they sent troops to fight for it, but Zhong Er sent troops to retreat, thus regaining Suizhou. Suizhou was originally the land of the Song Dynasty, and it had been occupied by Xixia for many years. Although it cannot be said that he was at fault for regaining the land, the timing of the timing seems to be questionable. If Liang Zuo took the opportunity to recover Suizhou when Liang Zuo invaded the Song Dynasty, the Song army would be famous. This kind of embarrassment caused trouble. Lu Shen used the excuse that Zhong Er raised troops without authorization before the imperial order came, and was about to send someone to arrest Zhong Er and punish him. Zhang Muzhi just returned to the front line and announced Lu Shen's decision to be transferred to Qin Feng.Lu Shen could only sigh and leave. When Xia Zhu Liangzuo learned that Suizhou had fallen, he wanted to send troops to attack Song Dynasty. Li Chonggui and Han Daoshan, two of his subordinates, came in and offered advice to him.Liang Zuo then asked what strategy he had. Li Chonggui said, in the past, Song Dynasty envoy Yang Ding came to Xia and promised to return my acquaintances along the border. We once gave him a large sum of gold and silver treasures. He received my gift, but he did not abide by the agreement. Suizhou is really hateful.We might as well set up a bureau, trap and kill Yang Ding, and take advantage of the situation to occupy Baoan as a base. In this way, we can fight when we advance, and defend when we retreat, without worrying about victory. Forgive Zuo Lian to praise the plan and immediately order it to be carried out. It turned out that Yang Ding had been an envoy to Xia Guo, and when he met Liang Zuo, he bowed down and proclaimed himself a minister.Liang Zuo gave him a large sum of gold and silver, a sword and a mirror.Yang Ding promised to return Yanbian Shufan to Xixia.After Yang Ding came back, he embezzled gold and silver privately, and only dedicated the sword and mirror to the court, and said that forgiveness was not enough. Zhao Xu believed it was true, and promoted Yang Ding to the Zhibao Army. Liang Zuo used tricks to lure Yang Ding, that is to say, he sent Han Daoshan to write a letter to invite him and agree on a meeting.Yang Ding didn't think about it, and went to the meeting recklessly. When he arrived at the meeting place, Li Chonggui yelled at him, saying that he had received a lot of money from Xixia but broke the contract. Yang Ding didn't have time to answer, the ambush soldiers all around had already rushed forward, chopping Yang Ding into minced meat with a flurry of knives. Xia Jun immediately captured Bao'an and looted wantonly. The alarm of the fall of the security guard was sent to Bianliang, and Zhao Xu couldn't help regretting it. At this time, Li Shizhong, the prefect of Fengxiang, also arrived. He blamed Zhong Er for the fall of the security guards. Because Zhong Er first provoked the disaster of war, Xixia fought back. Plan to kill Yang Ding, let alone the fall of the security guard. When the ministers of the DPRK and China held a meeting, they all echoed Li Shizhong's opinions, and many people suggested that they should kill the species and give up Suizhou. Zhao Xu did not adopt the suggestion of killing Zhong Er and abandoning Suizhou, but ordered Shaanxi Xuanfu envoy Guo Kui to move to Fuzhou and Yanzhou to deal with the war in the west nearby. Guo Kui submitted a memorial to the imperial court based on the suggestion of his official Zhao Xie, stating his opinion on how to deal with it. It probably meant that Xixia killed an officer of the Song Dynasty, and he should be punished. , Abandoning Suizhou, where is the state system of the Song Dynasty?Where is the face?Moreover, Wei Mingshan has returned from the family, and how to deal with the returned population is also an urgent problem to be solved.He suggested that the imperial court should guard Suizhou and take advantage of Zhang Bing's power.It is the best policy to choose a place to build a fort on the Dali River, draw an area of ​​30 miles, and accommodate the people who have surrendered from the famous mountains. After Zhao Xu received Guo Kui's memorial, he held several special meetings, but in the end they still failed to make a decision.So he issued an edict to transfer the former prime minister Han Qi to the Yongxing army to manage the affairs of Shaanxi. Before Han Qi left, he said that Suizhou should not be taken. When he arrived in Shaanxi, he wrote another book to the court, saying that Suizhou should not be given up. The Privy Council refuted Han Qi's contradictory words, and ordered him to figure it out before writing the book. Han Qi went to the book again, saying that he said that Suizhou should not be taken from a theoretical point of view, but now that Suizhou should not be abandoned is based on the current situation.Now that the border war has broken out, it is useless to regret or complain, only to discuss the situation according to the current actual situation.Preserve Suizhou, fight hard, and confront Xixia, so that Xixia dare not underestimate Song Dynasty, so as to achieve the goal of easy war and peace. If you blindly show weakness, it will encourage the enemy's arrogance, and the future situation will be more difficult to deal with . The officials in the DPRK do not seem to be very interested in the issue of discussing the situation according to the situation. They seem to be more concerned about holding Zhong Er accountable.Therefore, Zhao Xu issued an edict to remove Zhong Er from his post for investigation and relegate him to Suizhou. After investigation, Guo Kui learned that Li Chonggui and Han Daoshan were the masterminds of Liang Zuo's trapping and killing Yang Ding, so he sent a call to Liang Zuo, asking him for Li Chonggui and Han Daoshan.It just so happened that Liang Zuo was ill at this time, and when he was in a dilemma, a news that shocked him even more came.This is why Emperor Zhao Song ordered Han Qi to sentence Yongxing Army.Han Qi is a ruthless character. Back then he guarded the border with Fan Zhongyan and guarded Song's border like an iron bucket, causing his old son Yuan Hao to suffer a lot.Although he was not the lord of Xixia at that time, he still had a fresh memory of this period of history. Liang Zuo knew that fighting Han Qi and Guo Kui would not gain any advantage, so he reluctantly arrested Li Chonggui and Han Daoshan and handed them over to Guo Kui, which was regarded as an apology to Song Dynasty. Not long after, Liangzuo died of illness, and his son Bingchang succeeded him.Bingchang ordered Xue Zongdao to go to Bianliang to mourn the Song court. Zhao Xu summoned Xue Zongdao and questioned how Lord Xia handled the killing of Song general Yang Ding.Xue Zongdao replied that the two main criminals, Li and Han, had been handed over to Guo Kui, the Xuanfu envoy of Shaanxi, and they would be escorted to Beijing in the near future. The next day, sure enough, a group of soldiers escorted two chariots into the capital, and Li and Han were imprisoned in the chariot. Zhao Xu personally interrogated the two criminals Li and Han, and asked them why they provoked trouble and planned to kill Song general Yang Ding. Li Chonggui told how Yang Ding accepted bribes and broke his promise from beginning to end. Zhao Xu sighed and said: "According to this, Yang Ding accepts bribes and sells land, which is a crime that cannot be punished, but you can state to the court that I will punish Yang Dingming, but you arbitrarily lured and killed him, and despised the state. ?" Li Chonggui and Han Daoshan kowtowed and pleaded guilty. Zhao Xu pardoned the death crimes of Li Chonggui and Han Daoshan, chased down Yang Ding's official title, and confiscated Yang Ding's family property.Another envoy Liu Hang was sent to Xixia, and Bingchang was canonized as the king of Xia. The dispute between Song and Xia subsided.An imminent war ended with Xixia handing over the culprit and apologizing to Song Ting.