Northern Song Dynasty Justice

Chapter 521 Civil, Military and Law ([-])

Many civil officials, including Lu Shen, sneered at Guo Kui's remarks.

But that's all.

No one is surprised by this.

Because everyone knows that Guo Kui was originally a military officer, and he definitely belongs to the main combat faction, and he must support the kind.

The key point is that at that time the emperor gave Guo Kui's behavior extremely high praise, and even said in court, "If there is Qing, I have no worries about going west."

At the same time, Guo Kui also has many supporters in the court. Fan Zhongyan and Han Qike have all supported him before.

Zhang Fei smiled slightly at this, and did not comment too much. After all, he did not want to review the matter, but just asked: "Then I wonder why Guo Xianggong didn't come up with the edict in time?"

Guo Kui replied: "That's because the officials issued this edict, and they also took into account that our army is not prepared enough to avoid a war with Xixia.

But this kind of situation, in fact, has often happened in recent years. They often attack the opponent's city. If the opponent raises troops to ask for it, they will immediately return to defense. , Consolidate the defense. "

In the Qingli Treaty, there is an article that clearly states that both parties can freely build fortresses on their own territory without restriction.

The reason is simple, no one trusts anyone.

In the 20 years of peace, both sides built large-scale fortifications on the border, especially the Song Dynasty. When the 20 years of peace passed, conflicts followed.

However, due to the existence of these fortifications and the internal problems of the two countries, the wars during this period were only tentative attacks.

The Song Dynasty didn't dare to fight, and Xixia didn't dare to fight either.

Guo Kui continued: "At that time, I found out that the Xixia side had already started a war, but I repelled the Xixia attack several times. general.

If I take out the edict immediately, it will cause our army's morale to be scattered, so I plan to wait and see.But with the sudden death of Li Liangzuo, the leader of Xixia, the conflict came to an end. "

Zhang Fei nodded and asked, "Based on what Guo Xianggong saw, if Li Liangzuo hadn't passed away at that time, would Xixia have fought against our country?"

Guo Kui thought for a while, then nodded and said, "Judging from the situation at that time, a war might break out, because Suizhou's geographical location is really critical, so even this year, the Xixia side has been trying everything The way is to ask our country for Suizhou."

"Really?" Zhang Fei asked again: "The Deputy Envoy Shi Caizhong also mentioned the importance of Suizhou. Can Mr. Guo talk about how important Suizhou is?"

Guo Kui said: "Although there were many reasons for our army's defeat at Sanchuankou, Suizhou played a vital role in the entire battle. At that time, the Xixia army sent troops from Tumen in Suizhou to attack the security army first. , but turned to attack Jinmingzhai, and then went straight to Yanzhou City.

The reason is that if the Xixia army departs from Suizhou, they can arrive at the city of Yanzhou within three days, leaving our reinforcements too late to rescue them, so that they lose their initiative.Therefore, as long as Suizhou is in the hands of Xixia, Yanzhou cannot sit back and relax.

It is precisely because of this that the father of the deputy envoy, the old general Zhong Shiheng, was [-] miles away from Yanzhou. He ignored the harassment of the enemy troops, the dangerous terrain, and the cost. He built Qingjian City in order to protect Yanzhou .This point, I believe that Lu Zhifu is also very clear, otherwise, Lu Zhifu would not have sent a deputy envoy to garrison Qingjian City.

But now that our army has regained Suizhou, we can use Hengshan as a barrier, and Yanzhou will no longer have any worries. It can also reduce the burden on the rest of the roads. , It can be attacked when advancing, and can be defended when retreating. "

"I see."

Zhang Fei nodded, and continued to ask: "Then Guo Xianggong thinks, what is the state of our country and Xixia during the four years of Zhiping?"

Guo Kui thought for a while, and said: "I have to admit that the Qingli agreement is still in effect, it has not been abolished, and it cannot be said to exist in name only. Immediately stopped the Sui coins, and then we also judged whether to fulfill the contract based on Xixia's words and deeds.

As I said before, occupying the opponent's city is also a common occurrence during this period. The border between the two countries is also constantly adjusted, but no large-scale war broke out, and often after the conflict, the two sides will still talk about it. Guarantee the implementation of the Qingli covenant, but Suizhou is particularly important. "

Having said that, he paused for a while, "So in my personal opinion, in the four years of Zhiping, the two sides were in a state of peace rather than war, but what is undisputed is that the conflict is also increasing day by day."

Zhang Fei nodded slightly, and said again: "According to what Guo Xianggong said, can I think that the behavior of such a deputy envoy dispatching troops at the beginning was actually very common at that time, but because of the extremely important location of Suizhou, Therefore, there is indeed the possibility of triggering a war between the two sides.”

Guo Kui nodded.

Zhang Fei asked again: "Then according to Guo Xianggong's judgment, was our army prepared for a big war at that time?"

Guo Kui said: "I think it's a success, because during the period of inducing surrender to Weiming Mountain, General Zhe Jishi Zhe had already deployed at the Dali River to prevent the opponent from sending troops to stop the surrender, and he won successive victories after that."

Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Mr. Guo, for testifying in court."

As Guo Kui went to court, not to mention the onlookers, even the two parties involved, Zhong Er and Lu Shen, looked bewildered.

It is completely impossible to see which side has the upper hand after these words.

Although Guo Kui said that the rash attack at that time might trigger a big war, he also explained that the geographical location of Suizhou is very important.

After Zhang Fei rested for a while, he said, "Zheng Xie, a scholar of the Imperial Academy."

When Lu Shen heard about this person, he couldn't help showing surprise.

Many civil servants also looked around, and said in surprise: "Zheng Yifu is here too."

No one knows about most of the witnesses.

However, this Zheng Xie had been in the Hanlin Academy in the capital at that time, and his appearance surprised many people. He had nothing to testify about.

But I saw an old man who knew the fate very well, waving his big sleeves, and came to the court. Although he was white-haired, he had an extraordinary bearing, and his clothes were very simple, very similar to Lu Shen.

This person's name is Zheng Xie, who was born as a number one scholar. He is also a highly educated, honest and upright official. It goes without saying that he was able to be the number one scholar in the Song Dynasty. He also has a very high reputation among scholars.

In any case, the appearance of Zheng Xie made the civil officials feel good and fair.

Guo Kui was born as a military general, and he has always been a fighter. He definitely supports Zhong Er. Zheng Xie is a proper civil servant, a peacemaker, and has a very good relationship with Lu Shen. In this case, he has always He has always been talking to Lu Shen, thinking that Lu Shen suffered unfairly, and he also contributed a lot to this retrial.

This at least proves that so far, Zhang Fei is still very fair, and he didn't say that he specially found some main fighters to testify.

Zhang Fei slightly stretched out his hand to signal, "Scholar Zheng, please sit down."

In fact, according to etiquette, Zhang Fei should stand up and salute, but Zheng Xie knew that Zhang Fei should not expect too much from him in terms of etiquette, so he cupped his hands to thank him, and then sat down.

Zhang Fei said: "Before that, I still want to thank Xueshi Zheng for going so far to come here to testify in court."

"Chairman Zhang is serious. In fact, I should be thanking Chief Judge Zhang for giving me a chance to testify in court."

After speaking, Zheng Xie immediately said again: "However, the old man has been listening for a long time just now, and there is a question that has not been solved."

These academicians of the Hanlin Academy are all very powerful, and when they come up, they are mainly anti-clients.

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Scholar Zheng, please tell me."

Zheng Xie said: "Just now, even Zhong Er himself admitted that he sent troops without an edict. At the same time, the imperial court's edict asked Lu Zhifu and Xue Junyun to preside over the matter. However, when Lu Zhifu ordered Zhong Er to recall Er, Er is still not in compliance, isn't this a disobedience to the imperial edict?

Maybe this is in the political affairs hall, the success or failure of this matter can be judged, but the imperial court wants to talk about the law. Although the old man is not as proficient in the law as Judge Zhang, he can also memorize "Song Xingtong", I really don't know what else to judge . "

As soon as these words came out, many people present nodded as if they were suddenly awakened.

You are playing tricks here, asking seven or eight questions, but the facts are solid evidence, and even Zhong Er himself admitted that he must be guilty according to the law.

All eyes were on Zhang Fei.

Zhong Er was even more uneasy, he knew this Zheng Xie, at that time Zheng Xie strongly suggested that the officials should click him directly, as a warning to others, so when he saw this person, he suddenly felt bad!

Zhang Fei calmly explained: "This is mainly because the situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, and it takes several days for edicts to go back and forth. In many cases, the generals have to make decisive decisions, and they cannot do everything right. Ask the imperial court, and this is allowed by military law."

Zheng Xie immediately said: "The old man understands what President Zhang said, but this is not a battlefield, but whether to fight or not to fight. This must be allowed by the court. War disaster, this is a sign of the country's subjugation."

Zhang Fei nodded and said: "Scholar Zheng is right, that's why the president of the court invited Xueshi Zheng to come here to testify."

Zheng Xie was taken aback for a moment: "I don't know what the chief judge means by this?"

Zhang Fei said: "In the opinion of the chief judge, starting from the induction of surrender to the final recovery of Suizhou, this is one thing, because since it has decided to induce the surrender of the other party's generals, then the imperial court hopes to recover Suizhou, such an act of deputy envoy, It is debatable.

The deputy envoy Zhong finally chose to send troops, which was only a step in the whole matter, not a separate incident, after all, Wei Mingyishan had been recruited before.

This is like in a battle, the general must make a timely judgment based on the changes in the frontline situation. Of course, whether the judgment of the deputy envoy is forced by the situation still needs to be judged.

However, before that, we must determine one thing, that is, how the imperial court viewed the lured surrender of the famous mountain.If the inducement to surrender was denied at the beginning, then such a secondary envoy's behavior must constitute the crime of disobeying the imperial edict, so there is no need for a retrial.

However, according to their previous confessions, the court does not seem to have stopped this behavior.According to our investigation, Xueshi Zheng participated in the decision-making of this matter fully, which is why I invited Xueshi Zheng to come. "

After these words, almost everyone treated Zhang Fei differently.

Including Zhong Er, Zhong Gu, Zhe Jizu and other generals.

They felt wronged before, it was from a strategic point of view, and from the theory of results, the fact is that the recovery of Suizhou will reverse the passive situation on the northern front.But they never dared to argue with each other from the perspective of justice.

Because they also feel that this is indisputable.

But after Zhang Fei's analysis, it is completely worthwhile to argue!

Amazing!
This can find loopholes.

(End of this chapter)