One Piece of Song Dynasty

Zhe Yanzhi once served as an official official of the Xuanfu Division, and together with Xie Qian, the deputy envoy of the Zhizhi Army, sent troops from the Weisheng Army to the north. In Nanguan, he fought bloody battles with the Jin people for four days, and finally returned in defeat.

After Zhong Shidao succeeded Li Gang, he promoted Zhe Yanzhi to the staff officer of the Xuanfu Division. Later, Zhong Shidao was ordered to return to Beijing due to serious illness. Before leaving, he recommended Zhe Yanzhi to the imperial court as deputy envoy of Xuanfu. From the time when Zhong Shidao left the Xuanfu Division to when Fan Ne took office, the Xuanfu Division was actually represented by Zhe Yanzhi.

On this day, Tao Xuanqian, the official of the Xuanfu Division, returned to Huaizhou from other places. More than two months ago, he was sent by Li Gang to go to Zhang Hao's army in Fenzhou to kill the commander Ji Jing, and to convey Li Gang's order to King Yining's army in Jiexiu County, Fenzhou. Li Gang ordered Wang Yining to march to the Weisheng Army and join Fan Shixiong's army.

Tao Xuanqian later wrote an article "Records of Encountering Captives in Hedong", which recorded in detail what he saw and heard while traveling around Hedong.

On the eighth day of October, Tao Xuanqian came to Xuanfu Division and reported in detail what he had seen along the way to Zhe Yanzhi. He said: "On the third day of September, the Jin soldiers broke through Taiyuan. Some rural soldiers escaped from Taiyuan and went to Xiaoyi County. They told me that on the day the city was broken, there were still more than people in the city. Officials, their families, soldiers, and wealthy people All the silk and silk were burned at the order of Zhang Xiaochun, leaving only gold and silver. Zhang Xiaochun and his son were captured. The soldiers and civilians were all thin and exhausted. Officials and their families threw themselves into the Hao River, and an unknown number of them committed suicide. On the way, I heard that the Jin people sent envoys to make peace. I I feel that the Jin people do not really want to make peace, they are just using this to confuse us, this is just their cunning plan. However, all the states and counties they passed believed it, they all congratulated each other, and their defenses were all relaxed. The Xuanfu Division must quickly give an order, All states and counties are required to make strict preparations and report to the imperial court."

Orihiko said: "I happened to be thinking about these things."

Tao Xuanqian continued: "In the prefectures and counties I passed, there were no troops, horses, food, or equipment. How could they defend? We should immediately send troops to pacify Wenquan County. The terrain in Huiniuling in Fenzhou is dangerous, so we can quickly build forts for defense."

Zhe Yanzhi said: "My lord has come back from the border area recently. He is very knowledgeable about the affairs there. He is also a member of the general's family, and his opinions are very good. There are several things that I would like to bother me with going out again."

Tao Xuangan nodded and said: "Please tell me, Deputy Ambassador, I will definitely do it."

Zhe Yanzhi said to Tao Xuanqian: "I have recently received an imperial edict, ordering the Xuanfu Division to try their best to guard Pingyang Prefecture and Fenzhou area. Pingyang Prefecture has now been promoted to the Lushuai Prefecture of Fen, Xi and other counties, and Longde Prefecture has been promoted to Weisheng Jun, Zezhou and other Lushuai Mansion, Huaizhou is still in charge of the official affairs of the pacification envoy. I know that Lin Jiren of Pingyang Mansion has no plans to defend, and Liu Rui, the commander, relies on being sent by the imperial court and does not obey the command. I would like to trouble you to go to Pingyang Mansion again. Tell Lin Jiren that the imperial court has promoted Pingyang Prefecture to the West First Road. In this way, his responsibilities are completely different from when he was the prefect. If Pingyang Prefecture falls, what will be lost is not a state capital, but a handsome mansion. But he has so far I still insist on not making defensive plans, which is why as for the deployment of troops and horses in Fenzhou and Pingyang and the arrangements for defense, I can discuss it with Liu Rui."

The Xuanfu Division immediately issued an official document and sent Tao Xuanqian to Pingyang Mansion to handle official matters and inspect the situation in Fenzhou.

Tao Xuanqian was no stranger to the situation in Pingyang Prefecture and the prefect Lin Jiren and the governor Liu Rui. When he passed by Pingyang Mansion on September th, he saw with his own eyes many cattle, livestock and vehicles on the road between the villages outside the city, as well as many residents, women, officials and their families, supporting the elderly and the young, and shouting. , covering the river and going down. Tao Xuangan asked them where they came from, and they replied: "The Jin people have conquered Fenxi County and Lingshi County. We are from Zhaocheng and Huoyi County and have taken refuge here."

That night, Tao Xuangan entered the city and first went to pay an audience with Liu Rui, the commander of the capital. Liu Rui is the son of Liu Zhongwu, a famous general of the Western Army. Liu Rui introduced the situation to Tao Xuanqian and said: "Li Xuanfu has been recalled to the court, and Zhong Anfu came to replace him. However, Zhong Gong returned to the capital due to illness, so he was promoted to the Xuanfu magistrate and acted as the Xuanfu envoy. Li Xuanfu has not yet When he took office, no one was in charge of the Xuanfu Department, and no one made a decision within five or six days on the important border documents reported by the commanders and the commander of the Production Department.

Although I have been appointed as the governor of the capital by the imperial court, I have no one. The deputy governor of Fenzhou, Zhang Sizheng, and his troops are now unknown. Now I only have the troops of Commander Li An, infantrymen and more than horses. The Fenzhou Production and Construction Department also ordered them to be sent to Huiniuling to guard the pass, but it was not under my control. If the Jin army comes to attack the city, how can we resist it?"

After Tao Xuangqian left Liu Rui, he went to see Lin Jiren again. He asked: "The Jin soldiers and horses will come to kill them soon. Why hasn't the city taken precautions yet?"

Lin Jiren explained: "All the enemy towers in the city were burned down by the rebels Liu Sichu and Geng Shouzhong this spring. There are currently no soldiers, no food, and no equipment in the city. How can we defend it?"

Tao Xuangan said: "In this case, the bachelor no longer plans to defend himself."

Lin Jiren shook his head and said: "Pingyang is a broken state and county, and it cannot be defended."

Tao Xuanqian suggested: "In this case, you can send officers to the south gate of the city. In addition, you can arrange for women, old and young to leave the city first, leaving the young and middle-aged people in the city to save food. If the Jin people don't come, that's it. If they come to attack, they can attack quickly. Disposal."

Lin Jiren accepted the suggestion and asked Yu Hou to send an order to the two capitals to prison, open the city gates and release the women and children, leaving the young and middle-aged people in the city.

Now, when Tao Xuangan thinks of these situations in Pingyang Mansion, he feels worried. However, military orders cannot be disobeyed. Knowing that Pingyang Mansion is a dangerous place, I have no choice but to follow orders.

In view of the actual situation in Pingyang Prefecture and surrounding areas, Tao Xuanqian wrote a letter to the imperial court before leaving, and put forward seven suggestions: . Anyone who pays the gold head should be rewarded in time. The current policy is that the number of beheadings of the enemy is not counted in battle, and everyone must wait until the border incident calms down to receive the reward together. This is not conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm to kill the enemy; second, for states and counties that lack weapons, quickly allocate support; third, to The rewards for the commanders and soldiers should be changed to once every seven days; . Recruit brave envoys and soldiers to defend the city, and the envoys will arrange food; . Please provide two military flags to be used to recruit scattered troops, each day To recruit people, two years of hard work should be reduced; . Quickly mobilize troops and horses to reinforce the front line; . Quickly organize the transportation of food and money to states and counties that are short of money and food.

Two days later, the imperial court adopted Tao Xuangan's two suggestions: First, the Xuanfu Division was ordered to make statistics on the lack of weapons and allocate them from prefectures and counties that already had weapons; second, Tao Xuangan was given two military flags and ordered to recruit the scattered troops. soldiers, envoys with skill in martial arts, and warriors, and equipped with ten recruiters each.