Fenghou

At this time, Chen Qing saw that Liu Cui was a little unhappy, so he smiled and said: "Don't worry, you won't miss the Battle of Hedong. When we attack Hedong, we also need to march from the north, and you will lead the army at that time. "

Liu Cui's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile, "Du Tong keeps his word, don't break his promise!"

Chen Qing chuckled, "Since I promised you, I won't go back on my word!"

Now Liu Cui is relieved. Ever since Du Tong announced that he was the military envoy of the Han Navy, Liu Cui has not been happy for a few days. As soon as he opened it, he missed it, especially the battle to conquer Hedong next year, which really made Liu Cui very depressed.

The main general staying on Lingxia Road this time is Liu Cui, and the deputy generals are Cheng Huan and Ashali. Of course, Liu Cui is the general beside Chen Qing. Chen Qing will not let him stay on Lingxia Road forever, he just needs him to lead the army Stabilize the situation and make Zhang Xiao implement the Han-dominated strategy step by step.

When the situation stabilizes next year, Chen Qing will change generals, and Liu Zan will be stationed on Lingxia Road instead.

Two days later, the 20 troops set off. All the infantry and cavalry rode on horseback. Everyone returned with a full load. This time, the money found from the prisoners and dead enemy soldiers was rewarded to the soldiers. You must know that these Xixia soldiers looted many times , Everyone has dozens of taels of property, and in the end all of them are cheaper for the soldiers of the Song Army.

Every soldier of the Song Army received at least two or thirty taels of silver as spoils of war, and Chen Qing rewarded each of the soldiers with five bolts of cloth and one bolt of silk, which made everyone feel satisfied and went south.

At the back of the team, [-] camels, laden with food, grass and money, followed the army to the south.

……

Lin'an Mansion, the Song army captured Xingqing Mansion, and the news of Xixia's demise made the whole Lin'an Mansion boil. The Song Dynasty experienced too many hardships and failures, and finally had an exciting victory, eliminating a century-old enemy.

Although Prime Minister Qin Hui ordered that official celebrations not be allowed, the people spontaneously organized, and 10,000+ people in Lin’an held lanterns and torches, singing and dancing to vent their inner depression and celebrate the rare victory.

Many officials also ran out and joined the people's carnival team in their private capacity to celebrate the Song Army's victory.

For several days, the entire Lin'an city was immersed in the joy of victory. All the restaurants, teahouses and other public places were talking about this victory. This is the destruction of the country, and it is more exciting than a random victory.

In front of the window on the second floor of Wenqing Restaurant, Deputy Prime Minister Zhao Dingzheng was having a drink with Lu Qingshan, Minister of the Household Department. They were dressed in casual clothes, and in the eyes of outsiders, they were just two ordinary old men.

At this time, a few people not far away were arguing, "What does the destruction of Xixia have to do with the imperial court? It is all the result of Chen Qing leading the army to fight bloody battles. Where are the imperial army?"

"Brother Wen Huan can't say that. The imperial court will definitely not be able to send troops across thousands of mountains and rivers, but didn't they also give money and food? Besides, isn't Chen Qing's western army the imperial army?"

"But you can't be so shameless. What does it mean that with the efforts of the court, the Western Army lived up to the court's trust? Did the court work hard? Did the court trust it? There is nothing at all. If you have to take the main credit for yourself, you can't Wouldn't it be better to say that with the support of the Chinese people, the Western Army lived up to the expectations of the people of Song Dynasty?"

"Cai Wenhuan, you don't understand anything, and you're talking nonsense here. Why are you still a court official? But you don't speak from the court's standpoint."

"Shh-"

Someone suddenly saw Zhao Ding and hurriedly said, "Keep your voice down, Mr. Zhao is over there!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw Zhao Ding and Lu Qingshan, they didn't dare to say anything.

Holding his wine glass, Zhao Ding smiled and said, "If I remember correctly, this Cai Wenhuan was the No. 3 candidate in the imperial examination last year!"

Lu Qingshan nodded, "That's right, it's him. In the past two years, he has been handling cases at Yushitai. He is jealous and ruthless. He has offended too many people. A few days ago, he impeached Qin Hui for private use of public weapons, and promoted his nephew Wang Bo to the Ministry of Punishment. Yuanwailang, Qin Hui probably wants to deal with him."

"What's the background of this Cai Wenhuan?" Zhao Ding asked again.

"I don't have any background. I'm from Fuzhou. It's said that my family is very poor, but I guess it might be from the Cai family?"

"Cai Jing?"

"It's just speculation."

After a pause, Lu Qingshan laughed again: "This time Chen Qing destroyed Xixia, according to the previous agreement, he should be crowned king!"

Zhao Ding nodded, "The Son of Heaven has decreed that Chen Qing canonize as King of Lingwu County."

"I thought the Queen Mother and Qin Hui would resolutely oppose it!"

Zhao Ding sneered, "How could they not object? The Empress Dowager burst into tears, saying that she broke the ancestral rules. We can all see that the officials are also extremely reluctant. Originally, they wanted to be canonized as King of Fufeng County, but they were temporarily changed to Lingwu County. Wang, it is estimated that the officials think that Lingwu County is not the territory of the Song Dynasty, and that it is the king of a foreign country. Do you think this kind of thinking makes sense? Doesn’t the court recognize that Lingwu Shuofang does not belong to the Song Dynasty?"

"Since the officials are unwilling, why should they be canonized?"

"Didn't you sign a letter of commitment before? If Xixia is destroyed, Chen Qing will be named king. Besides, it's better for the court to confer than Chen Qing to proclaim himself King of Qin!"

Lu Qingshan chuckled, "The last sentence is the key!"

"Who says it's not? Now Chen Qing's power is so great that it reaches the grasslands in the north, Yunnan in the south, Hanshui in the east, and the Hexi Corridor in the west. If he no longer recognizes the imperial court, the imperial court will have nothing to do with him."

Speaking of this, Zhao Ding sighed, "I don't know why the Queen Mother and Qin Hui hate Chen Qing so much. Are they trying to force him to separate himself?"

Chapter 7 and Seven

Emperor Zhao Gou was also afraid of Chen Qing's separatism and self-reliance, not only because he was afraid of losing Sichuan and Shaanxi, but also because he was afraid that Chen Qing would form an alliance with the Kingdom of Jin and launch an attack on the Song Dynasty at the same time, and the Song Dynasty would really be over.

So without anyone reminding him, and regardless of the resolute opposition of the Queen Mother and Qin Hui, he still resolutely canonized Chen Qing as the king of Lingwu County. Give it back to himself, he will definitely support it.

This expectation is of course unrealistic, and Zhao Gou also knows that unless Chen Qing's head is kicked by a horse, he will return Chuanshan to himself.

In addition to Chen Qing, Zhao Gou had a lot of troubles. First of all, Yushi Zhang Zhiyuan impeached Zhang Jun for embezzling the military salary and dividing the spoils privately.

It took Zhang Jun more than half a year to destroy Liu Guangshi. He spent a total of 800 million guan in military expenses and millions of stones in food. However, Zhang Jun and Liu Guangshi did not fight in the first battle, and privately spoke against Liu Guangshi's two confidant generals. Qiong and Wang De, once the two turned against each other, Liu Guangshi was at a loss and had to surrender.

The content of Zhang Zhiyuan's impeachment is very sharp, "If the First World War has not been fought, how can there be millions of casualty compensation money?" The 20 rebels were all organized into the Song Army, so why did the 80 rebels repatriate money?How can a hundred thousand troops garrison for half a year eat up a million stones of grain? '

In addition, three thousand guan of money and nine thousand shi of grain were seized from Liu Guangshi's treasury. How could it be possible to say that Liu Guangshi ran out of money and food?Where did the other hundreds of big ships go?Where did Liu Guangshi's personal belongings go?

Although the content of the impeachment letter even a three-year-old child knows what Zhang Jun did?But Zhao Gou couldn't approve the impeachment letter. Can he approve Zhang Jun's dismissal?Zhang Jun has an army of 30 in his hands, what should he do if he stirs up a mutiny?

Chen Qing's army is still thousands of miles away from Lin'an, but Zhang Jun's army is right next to Lin'an!

What's more, although Zhang Jun is a bit greedy, he is loyal to him, while Chen Qing is honest and not greedy. Is he loyal to him?

Zhao Gou is the son of heaven, and he looks at the loyalty and corruption of his courtiers with the eyes of an emperor.

It doesn't matter if Zhang Jun is greedy for money, but he is afraid that he is not greedy for money. A warlord who is not greedy for money will definitely be greedy for power, and a warlord who is neither greedy for money nor power will definitely be greedy for the country.

It's a pity that these censors don't understand!Supervising warlords is to see whether they have ambitions and overstepping. This is the key point. Supervising civil servants is to look at corruption and bribery.

Zhao Gou drew a pen and crossed the impeachment letter, vetoing the impeachment letter.

Immediately afterwards, another thing that troubled him very much came again. It was the memorial of Lu Qingshan, the servant of the household department. Urgently allocate money and food from various places.

Lack of financial resources, the huge military salary has been oppressing the imperial court. In the past, there were taxes in Sichuan and Jingxiang, but now there are no taxes in Sichuan. Jingxiang is in chaos, and hungry people are everywhere. The imperial court set aside money and food for relief.

But there are also hungry people in Jianghuai. The imperial court recovered Jianghuai, but not only did it not bring any benefits, but the hungry people were everywhere, and thieves were everywhere, like a bottomless pit.

It is no wonder that more and more ministers oppose the recovery of the Central Plains. The Jianghuai River will overwhelm the imperial court, and with the desolation and poverty of the Central Plains, will the imperial court be able to survive?

How to do?Zhao Gou didn't know what to do.

"Go get Qin Xianggong and Zhang Xianggong to me!"

Zhao Gou didn't know what to do, but he could push it to the prime minister. If there was a financial crisis, wouldn't this be the prime minister's business?How Lu Yihao solved the serious financial shortage back then, they can learn from it!

Not long after, Qin Hui and Zhang Jun walked into the imperial study one after the other, bowed and saluted, "See Your Majesty!"

Zhao Gou waved his hand, "There are two things I have come to ask you for. The first is about the envoy to Jingzhao. It must be confirmed immediately. This matter cannot be delayed. It is best to confirm it now."

"Conferring a king is no small matter, please think twice, Your Majesty?"

Qin Hui was still not reconciled, and tried to persuade Zhao Gou again. He knew that the officials were not willing to canonize Chen Qing either.

Zhao Gou was in a bad mood, and interrupted him impatiently, "If I don't designate him, and he proclaims himself King of Qin, what should I do?"

"Your Majesty can declare him a traitor and call on the world to punish him."

Zhang Jun sneered behind him, "As a dignified prime minister, Mr. Qin, why do you think he is as naive and ridiculous as a three-year-old child?"

Qin Hui turned his head and glared at Zhang Jun, "In front of the emperor, Mr. Zhang, don't want to talk nonsense."

"I'm not talking nonsense. If the imperial court and Chen Qing turned against each other, the Kingdom of Jin would welcome it the most. Without Chen Qing's army to restrain them from the side, the Kingdom of Jin would attack Song without any hesitation. Hai, what should we do? If Chen Qing colludes with the Kingdom of Jin and attacks Song from two sides at the same time, how should we resist?"

Qin Hui snorted, and said to Zhao Gou: "If the enemy army comes to attack, our army will resist it. Our soldiers are all brave and good at fighting, enough to wipe out the invading enemy. There is no need..."

"Qin Xianggong, I have already made an order."

"Your Majesty can impose conditions to force him to give up..."

"Qin Xianggong!"

Zhao Gou was really annoyed. Every time Chen Qing was involved, this Qin Hui behaved differently than usual childish and stupid.

Qin Hui didn't dare to persist any longer, so he could only bow down and say: "If your majesty has made a decision, I will support you, and I will recommend Zhe Yanzhi, who knows the Privy Council, to go on an envoy again!"

Zhao Gou glared at him, then asked Zhang Jun, "What about Mr. Zhang's opinion?"

"Weichen also agrees that Orihiko will go on a mission again!"

"Then decide to go to Jingzhao as an envoy. Let me talk about the second thing today, which is to talk about financial issues. The imperial court has a heavy burden and can't make ends meet. The huge financial gap in Jingxiang, Jianghuai has become our fill. There is a bottomless pit where hungry people are everywhere, thieves are rampant, and there is a military salary of 300 million yuan per month. If this continues, the court will not even have the money to pay the salaries of the officials. The two gentlemen, let me think of a way."

As the right minister, Qin Hui had thought about this issue a long time ago. He bowed and said, "Jingxiang is not a big problem. It can be recovered after a few years of recuperation by cutting taxes and taxes. The key is Jianghuai. The common people are unable to cultivate. Once they miss the cultivation, it means that there will be no food for half a year, and the court will have to continue to pay for subsidies. This is like a human body. The wound does not heal, the bleeding continues, and the pressure on the military salary is also due to the war. Your Majesty, forgive me The minister bluntly said that when our national strength cannot afford the war, it is best to stop the war and negotiate peace with Jin Guo."

In the final analysis, it is still necessary to negotiate a peace.

Zhang Jun wanted to oppose the peace negotiation, but he didn't know how to oppose it. Qin Hui was right. Since the financial resources could not support the war, the only option was to stop the war. Otherwise, it would be militarism. Zhang Jun remained silent.

Zhao Gou paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, saying that he didn't want to negotiate peace, that was absolutely a lie. His request for the northern attack was very simple, to seize the Jianghuai River and make the Jianghuai River a buffer zone for the Yangtze River and even the south of the Yangtze River. Now that the goal has been achieved, he doesn't want to go north again. Attack, especially when he thinks of the devastation of the Central Plains, and the people in the Central Plains who are struggling to survive and will burden them with a heavy financial burden, he is even more reluctant. At this juncture, it is of course his wish to be able to negotiate with him.

"Can the peace negotiation be successful?" Zhao Gou asked.

"Your Majesty, I think it can be successful!"

"Tell me why."

Qin Hui said confidently: "I think there are two reasons. First, Wan Yanchang is currently in power in the Kingdom of Jin. Wan Yanchang is a moderate faction who always advocates peace talks and a truce;

Second, the Western Xia army will attack Xixia, and the next step will inevitably threaten the Central Plains and Hedong. The Jin soldiers will be severely restrained and unable to attack the south. The Jin Kingdom court will also consider negotiating peace with us. "

Zhang Jun rolled his eyes, Qin Hui knows this too!Chen Qing's army restrained Jin Bing, thinking that he really didn't know anything.

Zhao Gou glanced at Zhang Jun, "Does Mr. Zhang agree to negotiate a peace?"

"Your Majesty, I suggest that we discuss it in the court. If all the officials do not object, then the peace negotiation is what everyone expects."

Chapter 7 and Eight Triumph

The news of the great victory of the Western Xia Army in Xixia and the demise of Xixia reached Jingzhao City a month ago. Personal prestige is at its peak.

At the moment when the whole city was immersed in the joy of victory, Chen Qing's third child was born.

20 days passed in a flash, and the smiles of victory had not faded from people's faces. A heavy snowfall came quietly, and the festive Jingzhao Mansion became a world of ice and snow.

It was ice and snow outside, but the room was as warm as spring. Zhao Qiaoyun was lying on the bed intently reading a document, and in the cradle next to him, a little baby carved in pink and jade was sleeping soundly.

Zhao Qiaoyun has been in confinement for 20 days, she is really bored, so she helps her husband to review the document again.

This letter was issued by Zheng Ping, a soldier and horse envoy in Sichuan. He stated in the letter that bandits and thieves were rampant on South Jingnan Road, the people were in a miserable situation, and the people were in dire straits. Suppress bandits along Jing South Road and save the people from fire and water.

Zheng Ping's proposal was of great importance, and the Xuanfu envoy could not make a decision, so he transferred it to Chen Qing's mansion, hoping that his wife would make a decision.

Of course, Jiang Yanxian, Zhou Kuan, and Zhang Miao all gave instructions and agreed to help the hungry people on Jingnan South Road, but it was not up to them to decide whether to send troops to suppress the bandits.

Chen Qing, the envoy of Xuan Fu, is not here, so the decision is in the hands of his wife Lu Xiu, and Lu Xiu will naturally ask Zhao Qiaoyun to help consider it.

At this moment, the door curtain opened, Lu Xiu walked in from the outer room, pointed to the outer room and said in a low voice, "Nurse is asleep."

Zhao Qiaoyun nodded, "Nurse has not slept all night, she is exhausted, I will let her take the time to sleep for a while."

Lu Xiu touched the child's little face and said with a smile, "It's much fatter than her sister. Her sister was still like a skinny cat when she was 20 days old."

Zhao Qiaoyun also laughed and said, "Their sisters are only one year younger, and when they grow up, they will have playmates."

"Hey! Mine is so naughty, it's a big head."

"It means she is in good health, a good thing."

"That's all I can think of."

Lu Xiu smiled and said: "There is good news, the army has withdrawn from Xixia."

"Sister, it's not Xixia, it's Lingzhou Mansion."

"I forgot again, I'm used to talking about Xixia."

Lv Xiu laughed at herself and asked, "What about this document? Jiang Changshi sent someone to ask again today."

"Are you in such a hurry?" Zhao Qiaoyun asked with a smile.

Lu Xiu smiled wryly and said, "Zheng Ping is in a hurry. After the Chinese New Year, we will have spring plowing. There are no seeds, no cattle, only thieves. If you miss the spring plowing, big trouble will happen."

Zhao Qiaoyun asked, "What's your opinion?"

"Me?" Lu Xiu was a little embarrassed, she basically left these things to Zhao Qiaoyun.

Lu Xiu thought about it for a while, and hesitated: "Will helping those people help improve your husband's prestige? I was just thinking about it."

Zhao Qiaoyun pursed her lips and said with a smile: "Actually, the eldest sister mentioned the key point. Why did you send troops to suppress the bandits and help the people? It's just to protect your reputation."

Lu Xiu thought for a while and said, "But it shouldn't be as simple as maintaining reputation! Zheng Ping is not a person who pays attention to fame. He must have other reasons for rushing to send troops."

"There is another reason. My husband has roots in Jingxiang. Many people in the military are from the Jingxiang area. Now that Jingxiang is in trouble, the people have expectations of us. It is our duty to send troops. However, if we send too many troops, the court will There will be a strong reaction."