Chapter 27 Nine Last Wishes

Time flies, and it is April in the second year of Zhidao (996).Suddenly, an alarm came from the northwest, saying that Li Jiqian had robbed the imperial court of 400,000 shi of military food and led troops to besiege Lingwu (now Lingwu, Ningxia).When Zhao Jiong heard the news, he was furious and scolded Li Jiqian as a capricious thief. Speaking of Li Jiqian, it is necessary to briefly explain this person and the situation in the northwest. The Northwest region includes Yinzhou, Xiazhou, Suizhou, Youzhou, and Jingzhou, which were occupied by the Tuoba clan before the Tang Dynasty.At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Tuoba Chici brought tribute to Chang'an and paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty as a minister. The Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty gave him the surname Li.In the middle of Xiande's reign in the Later Zhou Dynasty, Li Yixing succeeded him as Jiedushi of the Dingnan Army, and he was named King of Xiping in the Later Zhou Dynasty.

In the early years of Song Taizu, Li Yixing sent people to Bianliang to pay tribute to the imperial court, and Taizu granted Li Yixing the title of Taiwei.After Li Yixing died, his son Li Kerui succeeded his father.After Li Kerui died, his son Li Jiyun succeeded his father. When Zhao Jiong conquered the Northern Han Dynasty, Li Jiyun sent generals Li Guangyuan and Li Guangxian across the river to attack Taiyuan to support the Song army.After Li Jiyun's death, his younger brother Li Jipeng succeeded to the throne. In the seventh year of Taiping Xingguo (982), Li Jipin came to Bianliang to have an audience with the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, and dedicated the land of Yin, Xia, Sui, and You to Zhao Song, saying that his family was at odds, and asked to live in the capital.Zhao Jiong asked Li Jipeng and his family to live in the capital, appointed him as the governor of Zhangde, named him Zhao Baoji, and sent Cao Guangshi, the inspector of the capital, to guard the four prefectures.

Li Jipeng has a family brother named Li Jiqian, he is unwilling to go to Beijing, he heard that the Song court sent people to take over the four states, and took dozens of cronies to a place called Dijinze, three hundred miles northeast of Xiazhou, Gathered crowds to make trouble and opposed Song Ting's takeover.Li Jiqian was very charismatic and got some people's response. In a short period of time, he formed an armed force of thousands of people. Cao Guangshi was worried that the spread of bandits would become a disaster on the border, so he led his troops to attack Dijinze. Li Jiqian's team was a mob, and if they were beaten, they would be defeated. Li Jiqian fled indiscriminately, leaving his wife and children behind.

Li Jiqian is a cunning and scheming person. Unwilling to fail, he contacted the local wealthy family. He said to the tribe: "This is the land of our Li family. Once it is taken away by others, we will have no place to live. Everyone If you haven't forgotten the Li family, please work together to revive our cause!" Li Jiqian tricked Cao Guangshi into killing Cao Guangshi in Jialu River and occupied Yinzhou. Zhao Jiong sent troops to conquer again and defeated Li Jiqian.Li Jiqian was desperate and took refuge in Khitan.At this time, Empress Dowager Xiao was in power in Khitan, she not only accepted Li Jiqian, but also canonized him as King Xia, and married the clan daughter Princess Yicheng to him.The purpose of Empress Dowager Xiao's canonization of Li Jiqian is very clear, which is to use Li Jiqian to harass the border of Zhao and Song in order to go south.

Zhao Jiong was very angry when he heard the news, and ordered Li Jipeng to be summoned to be the governor of Xiazhou. His main task was to recruit Li Jiqian. Zhao Jiong used the strategy of throwing wolves to lure wolves. Later facts proved that his strategy was not very clever. After Li Jipeng arrived in Xiazhou, instead of recruiting Li Jiqian to surrender, he hooked up with Li Jiqian instead.At the beginning, Li Jipeng still had a heart of loyalty to the imperial court, so he fought with Li Jiqian a few times.Li Jiqian suffered a small loss and was forced to surrender.Soon, he gave birth to a flowery intestine, and went to the Khitan people to ask for a title of prince for Li Jipeng. Li Jipeng was a fan of officials, so he immediately threw himself into the arms of the Khitan people.

Zhao Jiong saw that Li Jipeng sent meat buns to beat dogs in Xiazhou.Immediately sent Li Jilong to dispatch troops to Xiazhou for conquest.When Li Jipeng saw Li Jilong coming with troops, he hurriedly offered fifty horses and asked for a strike. As mentioned earlier, there is a peculiar phenomenon in the use of troops in the Song Dynasty, that is, those who lead troops to fight seem to be incapable of making decisions, no matter how big or small they are. In the hands, the generals who lead the troops follow the established guidelines.After Li Jilong received Li Jipeng's fifty war horses, he immediately sent someone to ask Zhao Jiong for instructions at a speed of six hundred miles.

Zhao Jiong was fooled once, and he no longer believed the lies of the Li brothers. He ordered Li Jilong to continue to march, insisting on skinning the Li brothers, and gave Li Jilong a trick. After Li Jilong was tricked, he wrote a letter asking Li Jipin to send troops to attack Li Jiqian; then he wrote a letter to Li Jiqian, asking him to attack Li Jipeng, hoping to direct a dog-eat-dog show. Li Jiqian is a despicable villain, he has no credibility and no friendship to speak of. He knows that he is not Li Jilong's opponent. In order to protect himself, he can't talk about brotherhood. camp.

On this day, Li Jipeng had just gone to bed, but he never expected his younger brother to stab him in the back. Seeing Li Jiqian killed him, he hurriedly fled back to the city from behind the tent.Commander Zhao Guangsi lured Li Jipeng into a side room and locked him up, and sent people to guard him strictly, and then opened the city to welcome Li Jilong. After Li Jilong entered the city, he put Li Jipeng into a prison cart and sent people to escort him to the capital.When Li Jipin arrived in Bianliang, he was scolded bloody by Zhao Jiong, and had nothing to say except kowtow to apologize.

Zhao Jiong had no intention of killing the war criminals, so he issued an edict to amnesty Li Jipeng, appointed General Youqianniuwei, made him Marquis of You, and gave him a house in the capital to live in, depriving Zhao Baoji of his name. The Song army destroyed Xiazhou City, moved the residents to Suizhou, Yinzhou and other places, and increased troops for defense. Li Jilong led his army to defeat Li Jiqian. On the one hand, Li Jiqian offered five hundred horses as an apology, and on the other hand, he sent people to Bianliang to have an audience with Emperor Zhao Song, and blamed Li Jipeng for the crime of betraying the imperial court.

Zhao Jiong still adopted the appeasement policy, comforted his envoys with good words, and gave a lot of rewards. Then he sent his servant Zhang Chonggui to summon Li Jiqian, and brought a large number of tea, medicine, utensils, coins and clothes to reward Li Jiqian. In the first year of Dao Dynasty (995), Li Jiqian sent Zhang Pu, Yaya, to donate good horses and camels to the Song court. Zhao Jiong sent someone with an edict to appoint Li Jiqian as the Jiedu envoy of Fuzhou, and also relaxed the ban on salt monopoly, allowing Li Jiqian to obtain benefits from selling salt. Zhao Jiong blindly accommodated Li Jiqian, but Li Jiqian was capricious. Therefore, this time he robbed the 400,000 shi of military rations escorted by Bai Shourong, the envoy of Luo Yuan, Zhao Jiong became furious and called him a capricious villain.

Seeing that the situation was serious, Zhao Jiong immediately convened a meeting of ministers to discuss strategies to deal with the enemy.At that time, Lu Mengzheng had dismissed as prime minister, and Lu Duan, who participated in politics, succeeded him as prime minister. Lu Duan suggested adopting the strategy of besieging Wei and saving Zhao. The troops from Linfu, Fuyan, and Huanqing would attack Xiazhou and attack Li Jiqian's lair. Zhao Jiong also agreed with this idea, but changed the three-way to five-way.Send Li Jilong from Huanzhou (now Mingsha Town, Northeast Zhongning, Ningxia), Ding Han from Qingzhou (now Gansu Qingyang), Fan Tingzhao from Yanzhou (now Shaanxi Fushi), Wang Chao from Xiazhou, Zhang Shouen from Linzhou, The five-way army marched straight to Li Jiqian's old nest, Wubaichi (Wuchi, Baichi and Yanchi are collectively called. It is located in the north of Yanchi County in Ningxia and the North Dachi area in the south of Etuokeqian Banner, Inner Mongolia). Five ways to send troops, so that the imperial power was challenged again. Li Jilong thought it was too far to go around the state, so he changed the marching route on his own initiative, led the army to Qinggang Gorge, and sent his younger brother Li Ji and his flying horse to gallop to the court. Zhao Jiong was furious when he heard the news, and scolded Li Jihe, saying: "Your brother is going against the order, and he is bound to lose. I told him to send troops to Huanzhou, because Huanzhou is close to Lingwu, and I want Li Jiqian to go back to save Xiazhou after hearing the news. Go back quickly and tell Li Jilong that you must not violate the order." Li Jihe returned according to the order, but Li Jilong had gone far. Li Jilong came out of Qinggang Gorge and joined forces with Ding Han. They marched continuously for ten days, but there was no trace of the enemy, and even led the army back the same way. Zhang Shou'en encountered enemies along the way, it seemed that he didn't want to fight with real swords and guns, and retreated without fighting, and returned without success. Fan Tingzhao and Wang Chao marched to Wubai Lake, where they saw enemy soldiers swarming towards them from a distance.Wang Chao said to Fan Tingzhao that the enemy soldiers are coming in full swing, and the Song army should stick to the camp to avoid being taken advantage of by the enemy. Fan Tingzhao also agreed to stick to it first, and they each chose a dangerous place to set up camp, and ordered the sergeants to stick to the camp, they only need to defend, no one is allowed to fight without orders. Li Jiqian led his troops to arrive and saw that the Song army had divided into two battalions and ordered the troops to attack from left to right. The Song army only entertained them with arrows. They had a stalemate all day and night. Wang Chao has a seventeen-year-old son named Wang Deyong. He volunteered to fight, but was scolded by Wang Chao angrily.Wang Deyong explained: "If our army does not fight, the enemy soldiers will never retreat by themselves. There is no food and pay here, so we won't be able to hold on for long. Only by killing them and repelling them can we be defeated." Wang Chao listened to his son's reasoning and agreed to his proposition. Wang Deyong led his men and horses into the enemy's formation, but Li Jiqian couldn't resist. Wang Chao and Fan Tingzhao immediately sent troops to meet him. Li Jiqian was flanked and had to flee north with his men. Wang Chao and Fan Tingzhao withdrew their troops and returned to the court. Li Jiqian wanted to take advantage of the falsehood to attack the Song army. Compared with Li Jiqian, the five-way soldiers and horses sent by Zhao Jiong have an absolute advantage in every aspect. Because they are not unified and have no rules, some are good at improving the army route, and the three-way soldiers and horses have not seen the enemy. If there is no trace, the troops will withdraw on their own, and the other two routes will only passively defend. If the young general Wang Deyong hadn't stepped forward, it may be possible for the soldiers and horses to retreat with full body. The soldiers and horses of the Five Routes mobilized the army and used a sledgehammer to kill chickens, but they all returned in vain, and it became a dead end.But Li Jiqian, the leader of the bandits, is still at large, continuing to trouble the border and harass the border residents.Zhao Jiong didn't say anything, and he didn't hold anyone accountable.If you want to win a battle with such an army, unless the blind cat meets a dead mouse. Not long after, Li Jiqian got supplies from Khitan and came to harass the border again. Zhao Jiong wanted to lead the army to conquer himself, but he was old and God didn't give him time. Although Zhao Jiong is the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, holding the power of life and death in the world, calling wind and rain, and omnipotent, he is still powerless about some things, such as the arrow wound on his body, he is powerless.He was wounded by an arrow in the Battle of Gaoliang River, and it was Yang Ye who happened to save his life by chance while transporting grain.Although Yang Ye saved his life, he couldn't heal his arrow wound, and no one could heal his arrow wound.Since then, the arrow wound has been tormenting the Great Song Emperor.When he was preparing to personally conquer Li Jiqian, the arrow wound happened again, and this time the attack seemed to be more violent than ever. Zhao Jiong felt the fear of death for the first time.He originally wanted to prove to the world that he was stronger than his elder brother Zhao Kuangyin, but it seemed that this wish was destined to be hard to come by.Feeling that the god of death was approaching, he did not dare to leave the capital without permission, because he still had one wish that had not been fulfilled. This wish was the issue of succession to the throne, which was more important than the extermination of Li Jiqian. It seemed that it was time to resolve this issue. In the succession of the Song Dynasty to the throne, there was a "Golden Chamber Alliance", which was left by the Queen Mother Du. Its content was "Brothers end up with younger brothers". The ancestral system of "inheritance not inheritance" is somewhat illegal, but Zhao Jiong still became the second emperor of the Song Dynasty based on this. According to the agreement of the "Golden Chamber Alliance", the order of succession to the throne from Zhao Jiong should be the emperor's younger brother Zhao Tingmei, and the emperor's nephew, the two sons of the Taizu, Dezhao and Defang.However, Zhao Tingmei was demoted to Fang County for the crime of treason, and finally died in another country. Dezhao and Defang also died strangely one after another.Zhao Jiong became the only beneficiary of the "Golden Chamber Alliance". Zhao Jiong originally wanted to pass the throne to his eldest son Yuanzuo, but he liked his eldest son Yuanzuo who looked like him very much.Yuanzuo is smart and good at martial arts, but he pays great attention to family affection. He pleaded with his father for his uncle Zhao Tingmei more than once. Later he learned that Zhao Tingmei died of depression in Fangzhou, and he was so sad that he became mentally ill.He not only beat with a knife and stick, but also set fire to the palace.In a rage, Zhao Jiong deposed Yuan Zuo as a commoner and deprived him of the qualification to inherit the throne. There are different opinions about Yuan Zuo's madness in history. Some people say that he is really crazy, and some people say that he is pretending to be crazy, so as to express his dissatisfaction with Zhao Jiong and his rejection of the throne.Whether it is true madness or fake madness, no one can produce solid evidence, so it became another unsolved case in the early Song Dynasty. In any case, since then, Yuan Zuo has never appeared on the political stage again. However, the later Zhenzong did not embarrass him, and he died well. After Zhao Jiong abolished Yuanzuo, he changed the name of his second son Yuanyou to Yuanxi, and entrusted him with the important task of Kaifeng governor and servant. There were faint signs of becoming a prince. Unfortunately, his fortune was not good, and he fell ill in Chunhua for three years. and die.Zhao Jiong was merciless when persecuting his brothers and nephews, but father and son were connected. For this reason, he quit the court for five days and wrote "Poems of Thinking of the Dead Son".Sad, he didn't want to think about the prince at all for a while.Feng Zheng and others also went to Shushu to ask the prince to be established early.This is a sensitive issue, and Zhao Jiong was upset about it, so he demoted Feng Zheng and others to Lingnan.Since then, no one has dared to discuss the issue of succession. Zhao Jiong recalled Kou Zhun, a Zuo Jianyi doctor, from Qingzhou. When they met, he complained endlessly, saying that he was getting old and his old injuries had recurred, what should he do. Kou Zhun is a capable and daring person to speak out. Because of his outspokenness, he was demoted to Qingzhou because someone slandered Zhao Jiong.After he came back, his temper still didn't change, and he was still outspoken. He said: "I didn't dare to go back to Beijing without an order. Now that I'm back, I still want to say something, and I beg your majesty to accept it!" Zhao Jiong then asked what it was.Kou Zhun said decisively: "Li Chu!" This time, Zhao Jiong didn't get angry, because the monarch and his ministers wanted to go together.Zhao Jiong asked Kou Zhun for his opinion and asked which of his sons was the most suitable to inherit the throne. Kou Zhun put it very appropriately: "Your Majesty is choosing a monarch for the world. For such a big matter, you should not ask your close ministers, let alone women and eunuchs. Only Your Majesty can make the decision." Zhao Jiong lowered his head and thought for a long time, then drove away the waiters around him, and said slowly, "How is King Xiang Yuankan?" Kou Zhun cleverly avoided answering directly, and said, "The son is better than the father, since your Majesty thinks it's okay, then make a decision early, so as not to have long nights and dreams." In this dialogue between monarchs and ministers, Zhao Jiong is very likely to be sincere, but Kou Zhun, who has always been known for his uprightness, speaks very tactfully. This is because the issue of establishing a reserve in the past dynasties is a very sensitive issue. If you mix it casually, you will lose your head. danger.Although Kou Zhun is very straightforward, he has to be cautious when he encounters such a thing. After all, everyone has only one head, and it is not worth losing it. Zhao Jiong's idea has been decided, that is, Zhao Yuankan, the king of Xiang, is ordered to be the prefect of Kaifeng and the king of Shou.Then it was announced to the world that Lishou Wang Zhao Yuankan was the crown prince and changed his name to Doheng. Establishing a crown prince, amnesty to the world, this is the ceremony of establishing a crown prince.Since the Tianyou period of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains has been in troubled times. The ceremony of establishing the reserve has been abolished for nearly a hundred years. When Zhao Jiong reappeared the ceremony of establishing the reserve, the government and the public were jubilant. On the way back to the palace for the prince to offer sacrifices to the Taimiao, all the people in the capital, including scholars, farmers, industry, merchants, and common people, flocked to the streets, competing to watch the new prince's demeanor.Seeing the handsome appearance of the prince, people cheered even more: "What a young emperor!" Hearing the cheers of the people, Zhao Jiong was very unhappy, summoned Kou Zhun and said, "Where will I be placed when the hearts of the people turn to the prince?" Seeing Zhao Jiong's anger, Kou Zhun immediately smoothed things over, knelt down and congratulated him, saying, "The crown prince is highly regarded and popular among the people. His Majesty has chosen the right person, and it is also a blessing for the people of Sheji!" After hearing what Kou Zhun said, Zhao Jiong breathed a sigh of relief.After the banquet, Zhao Jiong ordered Li Hang and Li Zhi to be the prince's guests.The prince's guest is the prince's teacher, and he also told the prince to treat Er Li with the courtesy of a master.The prince received his father's will, and he was very considerate to Li Hang and Li Zhi. No matter where he saw Er Li, he must first bow down and perform the etiquette of a teacher and a student before speaking.Li Hang and Li Zhi felt a little sorry to see the crown prince being so courteous, and they did not dare to act together, so they asked Zhao Jiong to waive this courtesy.Not only did Zhao Jiong disagree, but he issued an order to Er Li: I have learned from ancient teachings, started to build Chenghua, used good selection, and used it for counseling.Borrowing Qing's long-cherished hope, entrusting him with a guardian, Gai Jiangxu is humble, so it is different from his etiquette.Don't pretend to be a confidant, but give me the heart of a wise man!I hereby enjoin. After Li Zhi and Li Han received the imperial edict, they went to the palace together to face the saint, and asked Zhao Jiong in person to be exempted from these etiquette.Not only did Zhao Jiong not agree to their request, but he said to them earnestly: "The prince is wise and benevolent, and the foundation of the country has been consolidated. But you must teach it with all your heart; if the prince's behavior is not in accordance with etiquette, you must tell him, and you must be careful when you encounter problems. Follow the etiquette; if the prince does not do things properly, you must persuade him to make him do it properly. As for the principles of etiquette, music, poetry and books, you are all familiar with them, so I don’t need to instruct you one by one!” Seeing Zhao Jiong's sincere words, Li Zhi and Li Hang couldn't refuse, so they had to kowtow and retreat, and tried their best to tutor the prince. The prince, Zhao Heng, was born with intelligence, extremely intelligent, and has the ability of photographic memory.Li Zhi and Li Hang gave him lectures, no matter how difficult the article was, he could recite it after reading it once, and he could draw inferences when explaining the scriptures. The two had privately discussed that the prince would definitely be a wise king in the future. It is said that Prince Zhao Heng's mother and concubine Li Shi dreamed of holding the sun with her clothes at night, so she became pregnant.After Zhao Hengsheng came down, the traces on his left foot formed a Chinese character "天".In fact, these are all flattery words fabricated by historians and cannot be taken as true. When Zhao Heng was a child, he liked to play the game of arranging troops. When he was five or six years old, he played with the princes and called himself "Marshal".One day, he even ran to the Golden Luan Hall and climbed onto the dragon chair.Zhao Jiong reached out and stroked his son's head, and asked with a smile: "This is the emperor's throne, do you want to be the emperor too?" Zhao Heng said innocently: "Being the emperor is the destiny. If the destiny belongs to you, I dare not refuse it." After Zhao Jiong heard this, he was secretly amazed, and liked this son even more from the bottom of his heart.It seems that Zhao Hengli's being the crown prince is really a destiny. In February of the third year of Zhidao (997), Zhao Jiong's health became worse and worse. The imperial physician tried his best, but still did not improve. Under such circumstances, Minister Lu Duan was pushed to the forefront. Lu Duan was already sixty-one years old when he became prime minister. Before becoming prime minister, he had been an official in both the local and central government.Lu Duan is stable and calm, which is appreciated by Zhao Jiong.It is said that before reusing Lu Duan, Zhao Jiong once wrote "Fishing Poetry", which said: "If you want to bait the golden hook, you have to ask the fisherman." Compare it to Jiang Taigong.At that time, some people objected to using Lu Duan as a prime minister, saying that he was confused. Zhao Jiong said: "Lu Duan is confused in small things, but not in big things." Whether things are really as Zhao Jiong expected, we will soon see the outcome. Xuanzheng envoy Wang Jien feared that the crown prince was wise, and worried that after the prince succeeded to the throne, his additional envoys might not be guaranteed. Therefore, he conspired with Li Changling, the political adviser, and Hu Dan, the Zhizhigao, to support the deposed king of Chu, Zhao Yuanzuo, as the successor.Hu Dan believed that the king of Chu had been abolished by the imperial edict, and the king of Shou was the crown prince established by the imperial edict. To overthrow these two facts, it would be more difficult than ascending to heaven.Then he came up with another idea: "Although this matter is more difficult than climbing to the sky, there is still a ladder, and this ladder is the queen. If you get the support of the empress, and the empress presides over it, this matter will be easier. " Wang Jien asked worriedly: "Will your empress agree?" "Your Majesty is very wise, and she will never wade into this muddy water." Hu Dan changed the subject and said, "Only by finding a tenable principle can the queen be encouraged to come forward. Fortunately, among the living princes, the king of Chu, the chief, Let's use the principle of making an heir to be obedient, to persuade the empress." Wang Jien repeatedly said that it was reasonable, and several people had made up their minds, so Wang Jien found an opportunity to play Li Empress secretly. Empress Li listened to Wang Jien's play for some reason, although she was a little bit moved, but she never wanted to participate in state affairs, and she just listened to it, and didn't express it, let alone express her opinion. In March of the third year of Zhidao (997), Zhao Jiong died.Wang Jien went into battle shirtless, and asked Empress Li to call the King of Chu into the palace to succeed him.Empress Li felt that it was inappropriate and thought that such a major matter should be discussed with the ministers first, so she asked Wang Jien to summon the prime minister Lu Duan. Lu Duan had long heard that Wang Jien had a plot to support the king of Chu. Seeing that Wang Jien was summoned by Li Houyi, he knew something was wrong. If there is something to say, after Wang Jien entered the Library Pavilion, he was immediately locked inside, and then he went to see Queen Li. When Li Hou met Lu Duan, he said that the emperor had passed away, and since ancient times, he had established his heirs and heirs have always been obedient, so how should he pass on the throne now? Lu Duan affirmed that when the first emperor was alive, he appointed the prince for today, and the prince is the prince, which cannot be changed. After hearing this, Queen Li was silent and did not raise any objections.Lu Duan ordered his servants to deliver the Queen's decree to welcome the prince into the palace, and invite the prince to ascend the throne at Funing Hall. Sure enough, Lu Duan lived up to Zhao Jiong's entrustment and successfully smashed a palace coup, ensuring that Zhao Heng became emperor smoothly.Zhao Heng was later Song Zhenzong. Zhao Jiong reigned for 21 years, changed his name five times, and lived to be fifty-nine years old.He was a wise lord, and his death marked the end of the Song Dynasty's pioneering era.