choke element

Chapter 762

The outer city of Kaifeng City inherited from the outer city of Bianliang, Tokyo in the Song Dynasty. It was first built by Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and was subsequently expanded and repaired many times by the people of the Song Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Dajin Tianhui, the famous general at the founding of the country, the second prince Zongwang, and the later Jinyuan County King Wanyan Zonghan led the soldiers of the whole country and attacked Kaifeng twice.Zongwang grasped the characteristics of Kaifeng City, which was shaped like a crouching bull, high in the northwest and low in the southeast, and decided that the southeast corner of the outer city was easy to attack.

Immediately, the Jin army built fire ladders, fire ladders, side bridges, rams, goose carts, caves and other equipment to storm the city, and placed more than [-] artillery seats below the city, placing seven-point, five-point, whirlwind, tiger squatting and other guns. , Throwing huge stones weighing fifty catties, and even stone tablets, stone mills, stone sheep, stone tigers and the like outside the city, destroyed all the buildings on the city.

Later, Wan Yanliang, King of Hailing, mobilized 200 million military and civilian craftsmen to restore Kaifeng. His idea was to live in the world and face all nations. He spent all his time restoring the palaces and buildings in the city. Gold is used for mud, jade is used for pillars and stones, and they don't care about city defense.

So it wasn't until King Sui arrived in Kaifeng that he felt the pressure of the Central Capital and the Southern Song Dynasty at the same time, so he began to have the intention to repair the city defense.Considering that the outer city is more than ten miles away on Saturdays, it is difficult to defend it in a hurry with the police, so it was decided to build a new city based on the old foundation of the inner city of Tokyo in the Song Dynasty.

Not long after this decision was made, the farce of the emperor falling from a building occurred in Zhongdu, which triggered a series of subsequent changes in the court.Kaifeng naturally responded, such as arranging ceremonies for major events first, embracing the king's ascension to the throne, and fighting against the sick and sick Xingding emperor Wanyan Shouzhong in the central capital.

Not long after, the Jurchens in Hebei and other places panicked and fled because of the changes in the Central Capital.Kaifeng successively accepted nearly one million Jurchens who escaped from Hebei, Zhongdu and other places.

After Dajin occupied the Central Plains, the Jurchen military households who moved from the Northeast to the Central Plains, Hebei, Shandong and other places reached 130 Meng'an, with nearly 400 million people.

However, because the poor Jurchen households were not good at farming, no matter what preferential policies the imperial court gave, the Jurchens belonging to Meng'an Mouke continued to die and disperse.Coupled with the loss of wars over the years and even the people who died in the continuous Han'er uprising, by the time of Da'an, there were only more than 40 Meng'an Moukes under the full control of the imperial court, with 200 million people left.

On the one hand, they tried their best to protect the privileges of the Jurchens, and for this reason they did not hesitate to force the tens of thousands of people of all ethnic groups under their rule to grind their teeth and suck their blood. reduce.It can be seen that the poor governance methods of the Dajin Kingdom in the past hundred years since its founding.

200 million people may seem like a lot, but you must know that the Jurchen's Longxing land can now be controlled by Guo Ning.The number of Meng'an Muke in the hands of the Kaifeng court is very small, and there is no way to replenish it.

Therefore, the Kaifeng imperial court had to take over these Jurchens who had fled after all kinds of hardships, and resettled them as the foundation of Dajin.

To resettle them, we must first provide money and food.Kaifeng Mansion's original savings were immediately spent like water, and the finances that could still be maintained, and even seemed a little surplus, were suddenly strained.

In order to make up for the shortfall, the Kaifeng court doubled the land tax on Nanjing Road, or according to the old method, designated the fields owned by the local people as wasteland, and then distributed them to the Jurchens for farming.

In the process, the local people's power was exhausted, not to mention that there were many conflicts between Jurchens and Han'er on Nanjing Road, which caused no less than a dozen riots.

Since King Sui arrived in Nanjing, he relied on Tian Zhuo, Hou Zhi and other Han officials for government affairs. Another Mongolian leader with a higher status was the Jurchens, but he was also a Jinshi.Therefore, the entire regime has always shown the attitude of a traditional Confucian wise monarch, with the generosity of regarding Jurchen and Han'er as one family, and the benevolence of working hard to govern and deeply understanding the sufferings of the people.

As a result, this magnanimity and kindness disappeared after King Sui ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.

From the standpoint of Tian Zhuo, Hou Zhi and other Han officials, there is no way to persuade them.How to put it, the problem is there. If you don’t find a solution from Han’er on Nanjing Road, you will have to sit and watch the Jurchens who defected to starve to death. Who dares to make this decision?
In the next few months, Tian Zhuo devoted his energy to Henan Mansion, while Hou Zhi was given the title of the third envoy, and devoted himself to building the city.

At the beginning of April, he gathered people and started to build a new city. It didn't take long for the court to run out of money and food. At first, the peasants could drink some water, but later even the basic supplies were cut off.Hou Zhi simply cut off a lot of unnecessary content, trying to save money, and sent someone to demolish the Nanjing Guozijian nearby as a source of material.

The Kaifeng court itself was also trying to solve this situation, so it sent several waves of people to Lin'an to press for the New Year coins.

As a result, Lin'an Xing clearly had to balance between the two great Jin courts, and was moved by the interests of trade, and was more and more inclined to Zhongdu.

Kaifeng and the State of Song are very close to each other, and there are not a few spies sent out, so at that time someone found out an extra piece of extremely confidential news, saying that the State of Song would also jointly set up Qianjian in Huainan and Zhongdu, and use the production of Qianjian to supplement trade. The above spring goods are required.

Doesn't it mean that if you cook a delicious dish with excellent flavor and taste under the nose of the Kaifeng court, and then serve it to the rebels in Zhongdu?
Is it bearable, what is unbearable?

At present, the Kaifeng court sent all the soldiers of the thirteen captains to the south, intending to plunder the state of Song and seize supplies.

In the early days of the war, many battles were won in succession. All the ministries reported that their army might not be able to deal with the rebels in the Central Capital, but they had enough power to control the weak Southern Dynasty. In just half a month, in the two directions of Beijing West and Huainan, They all plundered a lot of money and food.

That's good news.

At that time, the ministers discussed together and felt that the rebels in Zhongdu took over more mess than the Kaifeng court, and the scale of the court was bigger than Kaifeng. , Xijing has Mo Nian Zhizhong, and Damingfu Road has Bilan Arudai and others, which are enough to deter.

Therefore, the money and food plundered in advance should not be allocated to the north in a hurry, and Wanyan Heda and others should tighten their belts and hold on for a few more months.Kaifeng has repaired the city first, so that everyone can sleep peacefully at night.

After Hou Zhi got the money and food, he continued to hurry up and start working. At the beginning of July, he finally felt that the situation was not bad.He reported to the imperial court that the north and south sides of the inner city had been exhibited and built, the city towers and other buildings were all available, and the outer city had also been slightly repaired, which could be used as a defense for the city.

This is of course good news. The emperor personally inspected the two circles of the Great Wall inside and outside Kaifeng, and felt like a golden city soup pool. He was very satisfied.

But now, although the battle with the Southern Dynasty has become a mess, the strong enemy from the north is coming again.Whether the construction of this city is good or bad, good or bad, no one can say clearly.

"Marshals Mo Nian Jinzhong and Wanyan Heda were both defeated? Bilan Alu could not fight with cowardice, and just sat and watched the enemy army go south?"

"I said earlier that Bilan Alu was incompetent, but Mo Nian Jinzhong and Wanyan Heda each have [-] to [-] soldiers, how could they be defeated? Maybe that Guo Ning spread rumors and disturbed our army's morale... "

"Then Guo Ning's general Zhao Jue has already led his troops to Ligudu! More than a hundred soldiers guarding the pontoon bridge have fled back. They have all seen it with their own eyes. What is there to be suspicious? Look at Guo Ning who personally led his troops to follow him." Bing, approaching Qi County in the east... This, this is really approaching the city, Your Majesty!"

"Fortunately, the double city walls of our Kaifeng city are newly built, and they are extremely strong, enough to withstand long-term fighting..."

"Speaking of the city wall, I want to scold you for being stupid! Marshal Wanyan Heda had no choice but to attack at night because the army had no reserves. If the imperial court didn't spend money and food to build the city wall that day, it would have transferred it to the north to supplement the guards in Hebei. Army, how could it be so easy for someone to rush to the Yellow River ferry?"

"You are confused! Is this the time to get entangled in this matter? If there is no strong city wall now, with Guo Ning's ferocity, he would have already attacked the city and killed your whole family!"

The young emperor felt dizzy when he heard the nonsense of the Jurchen nobles.

He smiled wryly and turned his attention to Tian Zhuo: "Mr. Qizhi, the preparations for the city defense, please ask Hou Zhi to talk about it..."

Tian Zhuo had been privately persuading the emperor for the past two days, and was prepared to abandon Kaifeng and flee to Henan Mansion or Jingzhao Mansion with a small number of elites.But when I came to see you today, Tian Zhuo's eye circles were a little dark, but his expression became more stable:
"I have already met Hou Zhi and asked him to patrol the city defense carefully. Looking at the situation in the past few days, there is no need to worry about the enemy attacking the city for the time being. We still have time and available reinforcements...Your Majesty, we still have a chance."

"Mr. Qizhi, I don't read much, don't lie to me!"

　Recently, I am busy with a major event at hand... If it goes well, it will end next week, and I can speed up the coding speed...

　
(End of this chapter)