Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Luoyang, the harem.

Li Qinglu knelt in the courtyard, her forehead touching the remaining snow water, and she could not stand up.

"Get up and talk first." Zhu Ming frowned.

Li Qinglu hesitated for a while, but finally thanked him and stood up to welcome Zhu Ming to the room to warm up by the fire.

Zhu Ming stretched out his palms to the fire to keep warm, and asked: "This month, you sent people to see you six times. Do you have anything to say?"

Li Qinglu had already prepared her words: "I heard that the Ming Dynasty sent troops to Xixia. The two countries are originally father-son countries. If the son is unfilial, the father will ask him to change. Why did he beat this son to death?"

Zhu Ming did not get angry. He picked up the fire tongs and turned the charcoal in the brazier: "Do you know what happened in Xixia? Three of the four major tribes of Dingzhou Dangxiang rebelled and then crossed the desert to join the Ming Dynasty."

"Dangxiang rebelled in Dingzhou?" Li Qinglu was shocked.

Dingzhou was too close to Xingqing Prefecture. Li Qinglu certainly knew where it was. She could not understand why the Dangxiang tribe rebelled.

Zhu Ming said: "Brother Richard built a mansion in Xingqing Prefecture. I heard that he has more than a hundred wives and concubines. He also sent people to occupy the people's land and accept bribes from officials inside and outside the country. Under the natural disasters for years, even the Dangxiang people can't survive, and the lives of other ethnic groups are even more difficult. I sent troops to Xixia to recover the lost land and save the people."

Li Qinglu automatically blocked the four words "recover lost land" and said: "Brother Richard is a traitor. Your Majesty can eliminate him, and the people of Xixia can live a good life."

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "Brother Richard's followers are all over the military departments of Xixia. Can I eliminate them just because I say eliminate them? Xixia is in its current state, and it is not caused by a brother Richard."

As he said, Zhu Ming put away his smile and said with a serious expression: "The harem cannot interfere in politics, don't mention this matter again. Otherwise, you may be the first concubine to be abolished in the Ming Dynasty!"

Li Qinglu was so scared that she trembled all over, lowered her head and dared not say anything.

"I can only guarantee that your biological father's family will be safe," Zhu Ming said, "but they must give up their property and move to Luoyang to settle down in the future. I will give them a new mansion."

Hearing this, Li Qinglu felt a little better and said gratefully, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your care."

Although Li Qinglu is called a princess, she is actually the granddaughter of Li Qianshun's cousin. Her biological father is Li Renli, the King of Shu in Western Xia.

Zhu Ming has a good impression of Li Renli. He is well-read, upright, and even a little pedantic.

When Li Renli was young, he was corrupt and accepted bribes. He was reprimanded by his brother Li Renzhong. He was so ashamed that he returned the stolen money and stolen goods and never accepted any gifts again.

The description in the history book is: until his death, his family had no food storage.

This was extremely precious in the Li Qianshun Dynasty where corruption was rampant, like a firefly in the dark night.

Sparing his life and bringing him to Luoyang to settle down was already Zhu Ming's care for Li Qinglu.

...

Winter is gone and spring is coming, and the war is about to break out.

Zhang Guangdao, Zhang Tong, Li Bao, Yang Zhi and others all stayed in the court and were not sent to the front.

They were a prince, a duke, and a duke, and they served in the cabinet, the Ministry of War and the Privy Council. It was not a good thing for them to continue to make military achievements.

It was not good for themselves or the court!

What's more, they were in charge of the central government and had a contribution to the destruction of Xixia.

Hua Rong, Guan Sheng and other senior generals also stayed in the Privy Council.

Although they were senior, they had already made the contributions they should have made, and they did not have the ability to be the commander-in-chief. It was more appropriate for them to stay in Luoyang and enjoy their lives.

The commander-in-chief of the entire Shaanxi Front Army was Deng Chun, and the deputy commander was Li Yanxian.

Deng Chun was an old man from Daming Village, taciturn and introverted. At the beginning, his ability was average, but he had a strong growth potential and insisted on reading and studying. Zhu Ming was still very confident in him.

Li Yanxian was more capable but less experienced. Zhu Ming was afraid that he could not suppress the senior generals, so he made Li Yanxian Deng Chun's deputy.

Four major corps have been assembled in Shaanxi now.

The first corps, led by Wu Jie, set out from Hehuang and was responsible for attacking the Hexi Corridor.

The second corps, led by Chen Ziyi, was responsible for attacking the Baotai Army Division and Jingsai Army Division of Xixia in Huizhou, Xi'anzhou and Huaide Army.

The third corps, led by Zhang Xian, was responsible for attacking the Xiangyou Army Division and Shenyong Army Division of Xixia in Huanqing, Dingbian and Yansui, and cooperated with the second corps to attack the Jingsai Army Division.

The fourth corps, led by Yao Pingzhong, was responsible for removing the northern fortress of the Shenyong Army Division in the Fugu area, that is, the Shenmu area in later generations. Then he marched south again and attacked the Shenyong Army Division with the northern army of the third corps.

A total of 80,000 imperial troops, 100,000 field troops, 100,000 garrison troops, 60,000 transport troops, 300,000 civilians, and 400,000 livestock were dispatched.

If the civilians are also counted, the Ming Dynasty dispatched 640,000 troops.

A real 640,000 (excluding Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's troops)!

Commander Deng Chun is currently in Zhenrong Military City (Guyuan County).

Deputy Commander Li Yanxian is currently in Suide Military City.

The two of them are responsible for the dispatch and command of the entire army, as well as the connection and cooperation between the Second, Third, and Fourth Corps.

As for the First Corps, there is no need for two commanders to manage it. Just fight all the way west from Lanzhou. Wu Jie can lead the troops to fight as far as he wants.

In addition, there is no military supervisor.

In other words, there has been no military supervisor since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Every year, civil officials propose to rebuild the military supervisor system, and Zhu Ming is also very entangled in this.

Looking at the historical context, Zhu Ming knew very well that things that are dispensable now will inevitably be restored in the future.

The future emperors who maintain the status quo will not have the control power of the founding monarchs.

For example, the major protectorates were too far from the ruling center. If the military supervisor system was not established, who knows what the military generals could do.

Throughout the dynasties, at any time, military generals who lost supervision were always more destructive than civil officials!

In the early Tang Dynasty, the use of censors as military supervisors, and not permanent, was a relatively feasible solution.

Zhu Ming planned to establish a military supervisor after destroying Xixia.

The specific operation is as follows:

First, imitate the early Tang Dynasty, and let the middle and low-level censors serve as military supervisors.

Second, imitate the early Eastern Han Dynasty, and institutionalize and normalize military supervision.

Third, imitate the Qin Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, and the military supervisors are not allowed to be involved in command power, and must strictly abide by military law.

Fourth, summarize the harm of military supervisors in previous dynasties, and do not temporarily assign high-ranking officials or eunuchs as military supervisors.

As for a hundred years later, the emperor who maintained the status quo destroyed this system, that was not something Zhu Ming could consider.

We can only believe in the wisdom of future generations.

…

Xingqing Prefecture has been in a hurry.

Xixia also had spies on the border of the Ming Dynasty. After the snow melted in the spring, the Ming army frequently mobilized and the civilians gathered in large numbers. The terrifying number frightened the Xixia monarchs and ministers.

Richard also rushed back. He pointed to the map and analyzed:

"The enemy in the north (Han Shizhong and Yue Fei) was the route of Liao Xingzong's invasion of our Great Xia. At that time, Emperor Wulie (Li Yuanhao) fortified the walls and cleared the fields, lured the enemy deep into the country, and finally repelled the Liao army."

"The enemy in the east (Shaanxi Ming army) was the route of Song Shenzong's five-way invasion. At that time, our army also fortified the walls and cleared the fields, lured the Song army to Xiping Prefecture (Lingzhou), and then dug up the river canal dams and flooded the Song army's food route with the water of the Yellow River, which defeated the Song army."

Although Richard was flattering Xixia, it was roughly in line with the actual situation.

But the Ming army was not the Liao army, nor the Song army.

The Liao army won victory after victory, and Li Yuanhao was beaten so hard that he dared not fight, and could only fortify the walls and clear the fields and lure the enemy deep into the country. Then he sent envoys to apologize and try to delay the offensive of the Liao army. In the end, the Western Xia was able to win because the Liao army itself was short of food and grass, and it could not grab food from Western Xia. The people were hungry and the horses were weak, and they were counterattacked by Western Xia.

The Song army also blew up the Western Xia army and killed all the way to the vicinity of Lingzhou City. It was the old capital of Western Xia, only a hundred miles away from the capital of Western Xia.

Then, the Song army's tricks came.

The uncle of Empress Dowager Gao was one of the main generals. He was afraid that the great achievement of conquering Lingzhou would be taken away, so he ordered the front-line troops not to attack the city immediately, and they had to wait for him to join forces before taking action. This gave the Western Xia defenders enough time to deploy defenses, and dug up the Yellow River embankment to cut off the Song army's supply line-finished!

At that time, Zhong Yan's defeat was even more ridiculous.

Because it was too difficult to transport grain in the mountainous areas, the treatment of the civilians was poor, and they were urged to hurry up, so there were constant escapes of the civilians who transported grain. The transport envoy was afraid that there would be problems with the grain transportation work. After petitioning the court, he obtained the power to directly execute civil officials below the prefecture, and ordered the county officials to complete the grain transportation task.

The county officials were frightened and became more harsh on the grain transporters. They often tortured and killed those who disobeyed orders and escaped, but did not improve the treatment of the civilians. This led to the civilians scrambling to escape, and the military grain could not be transported out at all. Zhong Yan was defeated due to insufficient food and grass.

All these are bloody lessons.

The cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Privy Council of the Ming Dynasty turned out the data of the Hundred Years of War between Song and Xia, and Zhu Ming personally led the summary of the reasons for the failure of the Song army.

First, it is not allowed to abuse civilians and guarantee the treatment of civilians.

Second, strictly prevent the Western Xia from breaking the dike and using the Yellow River for water attacks.

Third, whoever affects the overall situation because of the credit will be deprived of the title, demoted, executed, and his property confiscated!

Li Renzhong said: "The two times King Jin mentioned were the most dangerous times for Daxia, and both times we were in danger of extinction. It seems that this time we should also fortify our walls and clear the fields, lure the enemy deep into our territory, and then we can have a chance to turn defeat into victory."

Li Cha Ge said: "North of Keyi Gate, I have already fortified my walls and cleared the fields, taking away all the livestock and food along the way, and even burning down the houses of the people."

"Although Yue Fei and Han Shizhong have obtained some food from our army, they have consumed countless food from last autumn to now, and they cannot transport food in winter."

"Their military food is basically transported from Shanxi, and the food route is one or two thousand miles. As long as it is delayed until summer , Yue and Han's food and grass will not be able to hold on. "

Li Renzhong asked: "How should the armies in the left wing (eastern part) retreat?"

Brother Richard had already thought about it, pointing to the map and said: "The Southern Army will retreat to Xiliang Prefecture (Wuwei), and the Baotai and Jingsai Army will retreat to Xiping Prefecture (Wuzhong). Xiangyou Army, Shenyong Army, and Jianing Army will retreat to Yanzhou. If Yanzhou is not easy to defend, then continue to retreat to Baichi City. All armies will build strong defenses and clear the fields, leaving no food for the enemy! Wait until the Ming army's food route is extended, and then look for opportunities to cut off their food and grass. Also, if you can dig the Yellow River, dig the river, and flood all the places that can be flooded! "

Li Renzhong was dumbfounded.

This is to directly abandon the eastern and southern defense lines of Xixia, and no matter how to survive after the war.

All the places that can be flooded are flooded, which means that the places where Xixia people farm and graze are also flooded!

Even if Xixia can repel the Ming army, it will be caused by Brother Richard's move to famine everywhere.