One Piece of Song Dynasty

Just when Qu Duan was preparing to lead his army north, Li Xin led his escort to Shouchun on August . At this time, Han Shizhong's army was also resting here. Not only that, Zhe Yanzhi also led his army to Shouchun. Jin Wushu had led his army to withdraw north for two days.

Li Xin met with the generals at the Shouchun County Yamen. When Zhe Yanzhi met Li Xin, he first asked for forgiveness and said: "Your Majesty, I have a great responsibility and I failed to keep an eye on Wanyan Zongxian. Please punish me for it."

Li Xin helped Zheyan up and said: "Victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers. Nothing can be done perfectly. Besides, we have taken advantage of others in the past two months. This is already very good. There will be more wars ahead." I have to rely more on General Zhe."

Zhe Yanzhi stood up and said, "I'm ashamed. Thank you so much, Your Majesty, for your forgiveness."

Li Xin said: "Okay, let's talk about the next battle. Currently, Ma Kuo on the eastern front has led his army to open up a situation in Shandong. The curved end of the western front is about to go north to Hedong. Yue Fei and Liu Qi on the northern front have already established their foothold. However, these two people should be under great pressure when the Jin army counterattacks later. I think Jin Wushu will arrive in Tokyo soon. When he arrives in Tokyo, he will definitely know the current situation, so the tasks of our two armies are still very heavy at present."

Han Shizhong said: "My lord, just tell me how to fight."

Li Xin first asked: "Good minister, how many troops do you still have available, except for Li Shifu's thousands of cavalry?"

Han Shizhong made a calculation and said: "In addition to the cavalry, there are currently people I can directly use. If we add the defenders scattered in various places, there will be people."

Li Xin nodded and said: "You have people, I have people, General Zhe has people, Yue Yun and Li Shifu have more than cavalry, and Li Dao has another people. That means we still have more than people available."

The concubine Wang on the side agreed: "Yes, I don't know what the prince plans to do next."

Li Xin looked at the map and thought for a while and said: "In this way, our troops will be divided into two groups. Your seventy thousand soldiers will be one group. Suzhou, Sizhou, Pizhou, Xuzhou, Shouzhou, Bozhou, Suizhou, Nanjing, Shanzhou and Caozhou will be divided into two groups. This is your goal, to recover these areas and then go north to Daming Mansion."

Han Shizhong cupped his fists and said, "I accept the order."

Li Xin then said: "Zhonggu, you give Li Dao an order to lead the army from Xinyang to Tokyo. I and you will take troops to Yingzhou and Chenzhou to Tokyo. Our two armies will meet under the city of Tokyo. After retaking Tokyo, go north."

Zhe Yanzhi stood up and clasped his fists and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Li Xin finally said: "Yue Yun, Li Shifu, your cavalry is so fast that you don't have to move with our army. I will give you the advantage. The large combat area from the Central Plains to Hebei is where you more than ten thousand cavalry will move." Regarding the scope, Li Shifu will be the leader and Yue Yun will be the deputy. As long as the areas have not yet been reconquered, you can attack however you want, and you can even go all the way north to support Yue Fei."

The two excitedly clasped their fists and said, "I obey the order."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Okay, let's arrange it like this for now. Let's go down and prepare. Zhonggu, we will set off the day after tomorrow."

Just as Li Xin was preparing to go north, Ma Kuo in Juzhou received a secret letter from Li Xin. After reading the secret letter, Ma Kuo was a little embarrassed, so he summoned Guan Sheng and Zhai. Liang and Wang Qi.

When Ma Kuo met the three men, he first asked: "Generals Guan Sheng and Zhai Liang, what is the current situation of our army in Shandong?"

Guan Shengxianhui reported: "Commander, our troops have recovered Yidu Prefecture and Weizhou."

Zhai Liang continued: "Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Ninghai Prefecture will be taken back by our department."

Ma Kuo nodded and said: "The next step is Binzhou, Zizhou, Tai'an Prefecture, and Yanzhou. But before that, I have something to discuss with the three of you. This matter is top secret, and none of you can tell it."

The three of them clasped their fists and said, "Yes, Commander, we understand."

Ma Kuo handed the letter to the three of them and said, "This is the letter from the prince, please read it."

After reading the letter, the three of them looked at each other and remained silent.

After Ma Kuo got the letter back, he burned it with fire and said, "You have all read the secret letter. Let's talk about your opinions. How can the Confucius family in Qufu be destroyed?"

That's right, Li Xin's secret order to Ma Kuo was to secretly eliminate the Confucius family in Qufu. The Confucius family in Qufu has inherited Confucius' legacy and has been operating in Qufu for thousands of years. Just because Confucius founded Confucianism, the Confucius family has become the largest aristocratic family in Shandong. The landowners, no matter which dynasty or generation became the lords of the Central Plains, would ennoble the Kong family. Qufu basically became the Kong family's own territory, and the court basically had no control over it. Qufu was equivalent to a country within a country. This is Li Xin This is absolutely intolerable. Besides, since the Song Dynasty, the Kong family’s ability to adapt to the situation has been fully demonstrated. They will fall to whoever comes. This is also what the Kong family disgusts Li Xin, so Li Xin must weaken Kong. Home.

The Song Dynasty began to confer the title Yanshenggong on the Confucius family since the Renzong period. Kong Zongyuan, the th generation grandson of Confucius, was the first generation Yanshenggong. During the Daguan period of Song Huizong, Kong Duanyou, the th generation grandson of Confucius, was the Yanshenggong.

However, after arriving in Jingkang, due to the occupation of the Central Plains and Shandong by the Jin Kingdom, Duke Yansheng was divided into northern and southern sects. Zhao Gou crossed the river and established the Southern Song Dynasty regime in Lin'an. Kong Duanyou moved south with Emperor Gaozong in the second year of Jianyan, and settled in Quzhou, becoming the Nanzong. Kong Duanyou died in the sixth year of Jianyan, and was succeeded by Kong Jie, the fourth son of Kong Duancao, the Nanzong.

After the Song Dynasty moved south, Liu Yu established the puppet Qi regime. In 1131 AD, the second year of Fuchang, he named Kong Fan, the son of Kong Duancao, the younger brother of Kong Duanyou, as Yanshenggong, and presided over the sacrifices at Qufu Confucius Temple. After the puppet Qi regime was overthrown, Jin Xizong succeeded Kong Fan as Yanshenggong in 1139 AD, the second year of Tianjuan, which was the Beizong.

In other words, Li Xin actually now has Kong Jie of the Southern Sect in his hands. The easiest way to weaken the power of the Kong family is to reduce the population and wealth of the Kong family, and this is also Li Xin's request for Ma Kuo.

Zhai Liang frowned and said: "The prince said in his letter that he wants us to secretly destroy the Kong family in Qufu, so we can't take action. There are many bandits in Shandong. We can pay them to take action, and then kill them and keep them quiet after the incident is completed." "

Wang Qi said: "I heard that there is a group of mountain bandits at the border of Yizhou and Yanzhou. The leader is Zhang. Can we ask him to take action?"

Guan Sheng shook his head and said, "This is inappropriate."

Ma Kuo asked: "Oh, what does General Guan think?"

Guan Sheng said: "Generally the big landowners have some connection with the bandits and let the bandits do some shameful things for them, let alone a thousand-year-old family like the Kong family in Shandong. The influence cannot be underestimated, so relying on local bandits is not safe."

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