One Piece of Song Dynasty

Li Bangyan and others believed that as danger was imminent, it was not enough to take these measures. Practical actions should also be taken to demonstrate sincerity in negotiating peace. Li Zhe should be summoned to cede territory for peace with a letter of credence and a map; Shen Hui should be summoned to cede an oath, Lu Yundi to cede Taiyuan, Qin Hui to cede Hejian, and Cheng Yu to cede Zhongshan.

In this regard, Song Qinzong all agreed. He ordered Yu Wenxuzhong to explain to the Jin people in person, saying that Yao Pingzhong and others were "good at using soldiers and armor, and they made several mistakes in the peace negotiations, because they sent envoys to deliver the land of the Three Passes."

That evening, the ministers and relevant parties gathered in the capital hall for a meeting. Everyone agreed that under the current situation, the peace policy must be resolutely implemented without any wavering.

Zhong Shidao was also present, and he made a different suggestion: "We have made a mistake in robbing the stronghold, but the military strategists also have surprises. It is also a surprise to send troops to attack in different directions tonight. If it is still invincible, then thousands of people will be attacked every night After disturbing them for less than ten days, the enemy escaped. Victory and defeat are the custom of a military strategist. It is time to strike again, so why should we be so discouraged?"

Li Bangyan and other officials did not listen to the suggestion of cultivating teachers. They are all a bunch of literati who are timid and do not know how to use troops, and they dare not use troops against the Jin people anymore.

On the morning of the third day of February, when Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty went to court, ministers began to report one after another. They believed that Li Gang and Zhong Shidao "had failed in their missions and could be justified" and requested that Li Gang and Zhong Shidao be removed from their posts.

Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty approved the report, so he dismissed the post of Zhongshidao Xuanfu Envoy and appointed him as the Dayi Palace Envoy; he dismissed Li Gang from the post of Minister Youcheng and Personal Expeditionary Camp Envoy and ordered Cai Mao to take his place.

In fact, Yao Pingzhong's robbery of the camp was arranged by Song Qinzong himself, not organized by Li Gang and Zhong Shidao. But now, someone has to take responsibility for the defeat of the Jie camp, so Li Gang and Zhong Shidao became the scapegoats.

Yao Pingzhong's loss was not too great this time, "no more than a thousand people were lost." However, Yao Pingzhong felt that he had not achieved his expected goal and was afraid of being beheaded by Zhong Shidao for disobeying orders, so he "escaped immediately" before dawn. It is said that Yao Pingzhong "ran on a green mule and traveled miles a day and night before arriving at Dengzhou to have food." Later, he "entered Wuguan and arrived at Chang'an. He wanted to hide in Huashan Mountain, but thought it was shallow and rushed to Shu to Qingcheng Mountain. No one knew about the palace of the Qing Dynasty. I stayed for one day and returned to Da Mian Mountain. I traveled more than miles. No one could get there to collect medicine. I untied the mule and found a stone cave to live in. The imperial court issued several edicts. If you look for it, you won't find it."

Yao Pingzhong abandoned his army and fled, but Li Gang led his army out of the city to confront the Jin people. At that time, the troops of the Camping Division were very motivated and "morale was a hundredfold." However, Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty believed in the advice of the Prime Minister and thought that "the strange soldiers had robbed the stronghold and defeated him" and that "the big thing was over".

Song Qinzong and the ministers planned to sacrifice Li Gang and let Li Gang take on the political responsibility of robbing the camp to calm the anger of the Jin people. Li Bangyan once told the Jin envoy in front of Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty: "The use of troops is the result of the alliance between Minister Li Gang and Yao Pingzhong, and is not the intention of the imperial court."

Li Bangyan and others agreed that Li Gang should be tied up and handed over to the Jin people. However, for some reason, Ambassador Jin refused to accept it. Instead, he thought this was not possible and thought it would be better for the court to handle it on its own.

Li Gang learned that things had changed outside the city, so he immediately led his troops into the city. At dusk, he came to Chongzheng Hall to ask for a memorial. As soon as he arrived at the gate of the hall, he was blocked by the chamberlain and refused to enter the hall. Only then did he realize that he had been deposed by the emperor, so he "retired to the bathroom to await his punishment."

That night, the Song Qin sect sent a personal letter to Li Gang to comfort him, and gave him taels of platinum and yuan. Soon, Song Qinzong asked Wu Min to tell Li Gang that he would soon reuse it, and Li Gang "wept with gratitude."

After Cai Mao took over Li Gangxing's position as camp envoy, he immediately sent people to count the losses. As a result, "the troops of the camp division lost more than a hundred people." The losses were not as serious as Li Bangyan and others said. However, the Western troops suffered no more than a thousand casualties, and the other Qinwang divisions did not suffer any losses because they did not send troops.

It is obvious that Li Bangyan and others exaggerated the losses caused by the defeat, hiding a conspiracy. Because they advocated peace, they wanted to use this to attack military forces such as Li Gang and Zhong Shidao who advocated using force against the Jin people. Sadly, Song Qinzong, as the top decision-maker, lacked the due insight and could not see the truth of the matter. Moreover, he also lacked the due decisiveness and vacillated between peace and war. A few days ago, he strongly urged Zhong Shidao to send troops to attack the Jin people, but now he believes that sending troops is a wrong choice and that peace negotiation is the right way.

Cai Mao is the son of Cai Que, a key figure in Wang Anshi's political reform and the prime minister during the reign of Zhezong of Song Dynasty. After Wang Anshi resigned as prime minister, Cai was indeed one of the main implementers of the new law, and "all the laws on peace and exemption from military service were implemented by him." Cai Que was a "powerful" person. As Cai Que's son, Cai Mao was certainly good at this.

"Cai Mao led the camp, which was the plan of Bangyan and others." Cai Mao and Li Bangyan were in the same group, both of them were peace negotiators. Cai Mao knew that the emperor was determined to negotiate peace, so he immediately ordered all soldiers to remove their armor after taking office, and abolished the "Baowu" system, which was a system of organizing residents to defend themselves based on their household registration. The system of eunuchs raising city walls that had just been abandoned was completely restored by him.

When the Jin people first came to the city, they heard that the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty, Li Bangyan, was a scholar. They all chuckled in the army and said: "There is no one in the Southern Dynasty." Because the Jin people grew up and developed in the war, they advocated force. . When Zhongshi Dao and other troops of King Qin gathered in the capital, the Jin people became afraid and "did not dare to ride out of the strong wall." But now, after hearing that both Li Gang and Zhong Shidao, who were in charge of the military power, had resigned from their posts, the Jin people began to make moves again, "riding hundreds of horses from the north to the east, thinning the city walls", and sometimes shooting arrows at the city to provoke them. For the Song soldiers who fought back, Cai Mao "ordered them to be whipped." Therefore, the Jin people often came to the city and asked for "thousands of cloth bags" from the Song Dynasty, threatening to use the cloth bags to hold gold and silver, and planned to retreat. Cai Mao agreed, threw the cloth bag down from the city, and gave it to the Jin people. As a result, the Jin people actually used cloth bags filled with soil and stuffed them into the moat to prepare for the attack. It can be seen that the Jin people are indeed very cunning.

One night in the middle of the night, someone came to deliver a message as a chamberlain, asking to open the east gate of the city and go out to do something. Fortunately, the gatekeeper was more alert and "questioned him repeatedly." Finally, the man was so speechless that he could not answer, so he returned. There is a fire ban in the imperial city, and violators will be dealt with by military law. However, at this time, suddenly "red lanterns were placed on all the cities." I don't know who rebuilt a one-horned soap flag in the northwest corner of the city. "It is decorated with wild geese, which is not a military item of this dynasty." People in the capital were horrified when they saw it. There are various signs that there seems to be someone in the city who is collaborating with the enemy. People are very worried about this, "thinking about something unexpected". "People are fierce, but you are not at ease."