Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

Ten days ago, Bianjing.

On a sunny day, in the peaceful and prosperous imperial capital where singing and dancing are peaceful, the hustle and bustle on the streets seems to never stop.

Cars, horses and pedestrians walk on the clear roads, although they are crowded, they do not interfere with each other: after all, pedestrians dare not risk their lives to squeeze into the driveway, and anyone who dares to drive horses and carts in the human way will have to eat "whip five". Ten' punishment.

However, in such peaceful days, outside the city of Bianjing, a clear and ear-piercing scream sounded suddenly.

Lined up in a neat queue, waiting for the guards at the city gate to check the public inspection one by one, so that the common people who entered the city felt astonished, and turned their heads to look at the source.

—What was that noise?

The ones who reacted much faster than them were naturally the city gate guards.

After being surprised at the beginning, He Ningmei listened carefully for a while, and after deciphering what the approaching whistling sound symbolized, their expressions changed suddenly, and they quickly expanded the two rows of entering the city forcefully to both sides, and appeared in the blink of an eye. A passage for two horses abreast.

Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen guards of the city gate held their weapons solemnly, stood at the temporary opening, looked forward, and waited quietly.

Only a few moments away from the sound of howling, five soldiers dressed in military uniforms and riding tall horses appeared in everyone's sight.

Although they didn't know exactly what happened, their dusty bodies and stern expressions made the people who were curious to watch the excitement feel a little bit uneasy.

Arriving in front of the city gate guards in an instant, a group of people hastily reined in their horses and precisely stopped five steps away from them.

"Qinzhou, report urgently."

The leader knew that the war situation was imminent when he left, and now he must be extremely urgent, so he didn't care about dismounting the horse, so he leaned over the horse and said this sentence in a hoarse voice.

At the same time, he reached into the skirt of his clothes, and quickly took out a sweaty token handed to him by Lu Ci himself, as well as an urgent official document written by Lu Ci himself.

After confirming the pedestrian's identity, the city guards didn't know the urgency of the situation, so they didn't dare to delay for a moment. With a vigorous nod, they moved out of the way for the five horsemen to rush in like lightning.

It wasn't until a group of people entered the city at a fast speed, and rode their horses straight into the streets and alleys, like a no-man's land, that the other tourists who were dumbfounded outside the city slowly came back to their senses.

Many people whispered: "Could it be that just now..."

"It must be. Many years ago, I heard my father talk about it..."

"Not good, where is the unevenness?"

"I can't hear the sergeant's accent. Looking at the direction, it's from the north."

……

The guarding sergeant, who knew a little more than them, had to suppress the uneasiness in his heart, and reprimanded with a dark face: "What nonsense are you talking about? Can you enter the city yet?"

Seeing that everyone was silent, they restored the order of the two rows of people, and absent-mindedly started to check again.

The Qinzhou Wuqi rode the stars and wore the moon all the way, driving day and night. The horses had changed several batches, but they never took a rest.

Even though he was physically and mentally exhausted at this time, he still didn't dare to relax for a moment, he just gritted his teeth and persisted until he rushed into the gate of the palace, reported the sudden outbreak of war in Qinzhou, and made sure the temple knew about it, before he fainted to the ground.

One stone stirred up thousands of waves, and Tubo's sudden rebellion naturally caused an uproar in the court.

There were those who scolded Tubo for their wolfish ambitions, being inferior to pigs and dogs, who were flattering and flattering not long ago, but now coveted the middle land; Furious, they stepped forward resolutely and applied for additional troops to go to war; some took the opportunity to eradicate dissidents, advised the prince, and strongly recommended political enemies to go to Tubo to persuade them to make peace;

Hearing the discussion below, all the officials were spit and impassioned, and each expressed their opinions, but the crown prince Zhao Zhen, who supervised the country on behalf of his father, was silent from the beginning to the end.

When he first heard the news, his mind was almost blank, and his heart beat like a drum.

After a while, he slowly and perfectly concealed his uncontrollably trembling hands in the sleeves of his robe, his eyes narrowed slightly, pretending to be extremely calm and listening carefully.

Even the servants who were accompanying them all around hadn't noticed the slightest clue, let alone the court officials who were farther away.

Only Zhao Zhen himself knew best that facing the sudden outbreak of war in Qinzhou, he was more filled with deep annoyance and regret than the panic of being at a loss.

——Little Master.

Zhao Zhen's eyes were blank.

He knew clearly that Qinzhou's guards were no more than six thousand at full strength, and the city walls had not been repaired for a long time.

How long can they resist the [-] Tibetan elites who have been prepared for a long time, led by the cunning, cruel and tyrannical Li Lizun?

He dared not think.

Even though the young master was still full of ambitions not long ago, he handed in the memorials and made more than a dozen proposals, and he also happily gave instructions... But how long has it been?Even if the little master has three heads and six arms and suffers from a lack of manpower, it is difficult to achieve any results.

With the seemingly gentle and flexible character of the little master, but the real strong character, there is absolutely no possibility of abandoning the people, abandoning the city and fleeing, and the bloody battle will be fought to the end.

There were bursts of sharp pain in Zhao Zhen's heart, and the deep regret made his mouth bitter.

If it wasn't for him to protect his sister, he couldn't care less about the young master, so he had no choice but to follow his father's insistence, recall Cao Wei, a veteran of the battlefield, to take care of his life, and then send the young master who has never been in war to guard the border...

Li Lizun was afraid that he would not act rashly from the beginning, so naturally there would be no misfortune today.

If after his father got ill, couldn't get up, and couldn't manage politics, he didn't have a lot of worries, and finally decided to wait a year or two for a buffer, and if he called the little master back immediately...

There will be no pain today.

His quietness and reticence, in the eyes of the quick-tempered Kou Zhun, became cowardice and hesitation.

Could it be that the crown prince is weak and frightened by the mere Tubo, so he wants to give up Qinzhou?

This guess alone made Kou Zhun break out in a cold sweat.

He was always the first person to invite Ying to fight, seeing the crown prince silent for a long time and letting the crowd make a fuss, he was sweating profusely from anxiety.

He held back for a while, but couldn't hold it anymore, not caring that he was no longer one of the three assistants, but only the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, he frowned and took a big step forward, reminding Zhao Zhen angrily: "—Bing Please be quick, Qinzhou is in an emergency right now, I implore Your Highness to immediately send troops to the neighboring counties and counties to help Qinzhou!"

Yan Shu also stepped forward and echoed with his voice: "If the city of Qinzhou is destroyed, the consequences will be disastrous. Now that the battle is urgent, Your Highness, please increase your troops quickly!"

Zhao Zhen was taken aback by these two loud voices that were almost shouting, and quickly regained his senses, subconsciously nodded.

Rushing to the rescue, of course it is necessary to rush to the rescue.

No one has any objections to Kou Zhun's proposal to increase troops for support.

If the [-] Tubo soldiers were really scared to give up Qinzhou, an important northwestern frontier, then whoever made this suggestion would surely be drowned with saliva.

But specifically where to transfer the soldiers, how many to transfer, and who to lead the troops...

As soon as the details are implemented, they can quarrel for three days and three nights.

It stands to reason that Cao Wei, who has guarded Qinzhou for many years, has both reputation and experience, and is undoubtedly the best candidate.

However, there are many people who can't see Cao Wei or have selfishness, and they spare no effort when they pour the dirty water of "they have known about the wolf's ambitions of Tubo, but have never reported them".

Even in order to prevent Cao Wei from having this opportunity to become famous, some people did not hesitate to mention the "famous" generals Zhang Qi and Yang Chongxun.

However, although Zhang Qi and Yang Chongxun are military officers, they have neither military exploits nor military strategy. They only rely on speculation on nepotism, or they were Zhao Hengdong's palace officials in the early years, relying on their little love to do business , and in exchange for high-ranking officials and generous salaries.

No matter how much they want to save face, they also have self-knowledge.

There is no eye for swords and guns on the battlefield, they have been pampered for many years, they have a big belly, and they go up rashly, not to mention the outcome, they are afraid that their lives will be lost, and they may end up thankless in the end... Those who say this are really too contemptuous 'They, they still hurt them on purpose!

Because of this, Zhang Qi and Yang Chongxun dare not accept the hot potato that they have been nominated for.

He hated the speaker so much that he wrote down the name of the speaker bitterly.

Immediately, he made a decisive decision, first complained for a while, quickly put aside the relationship, and then randomly mentioned a few subordinates who were still eye-catching, trying to make up for it.

This chaos simply made Kou Zhun fly into a rage, and during the quarrel, he wished he could draw his sword and take out these bastards who took military aircraft as a joke.

Zhao Zhen watched them arguing blankly, and at the end he suddenly took the case, and slowly spoke out amidst the silence of the officials.

With his tough tone that seemed to be a flash in the pan since he confronted his father that day, he arranged it one by one.

In the situation where he still lacks control over the court and cannot fully see the situation, in order to ensure nothing goes wrong, he has no choice but to 'employ nepotism' first.

And in this matter, the most reliable people are obviously those who have the best friendship with the young master.

After Zhao Zhen suppressed all the uneasiness in his heart, he quickly regained his composure.

With undeniable toughness, he silenced all other voices.

Then, while recalling the words of the little master back then, he distributed the missions one by one in an orderly manner: Kou Zhun, Yan Shu, Wang Zeng, Cao Wei, Liu Qi, Zhu Shuo who were promoted back to Beijing not long ago...all of them Never missed it.

Now that you have done your best, you can only listen to the destiny.

Zhao Zhen knew that no matter how quickly the temple reacted and how quickly troops were dispatched from neighboring state capitals, by the time the reinforcements arrived, it would be more than ten days before the outbreak of war.

Everything depends on whether the Qinzhou City, which is guarded by the little master, can last for another ten days.

Thinking of this, Zhao Zhen's heart was pulled up again, and he raised it so high that he didn't dare to think about it.

Five days after issuing an edict of support to the surrounding state capitals of Qinzhou, Zhao Zhen boarded a tall building in the palace and watched the mobilized five thousand elite imperial troops leave the city. After heading northwest, he was about to go downstairs with a lot of worries Go, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye.

He stopped involuntarily, narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked in that direction.

——Five more cavalry delivering urgent military reports.

The situation in Qinzhou must have changed!

Zhao Zhen was suffocated, and without thinking about it, he pushed aside the support of the servants on both sides, and went down the high pavilion in three steps at a time. Amidst the exclamation and pleadings of a group of people, he ran all the way like never before, and went straight to the meeting hall .

——Did you keep it, or did you not keep it?

It was only five days since he issued an edict ordering the surrounding area to send troops for reinforcements.

Even if the quick feet grow a pair of flying legs, it will not take so long to order troops to go out.

This means that this urgent report is completely written by the little master.

When he was sweating profusely, his clothes were disheveled, and he ran there panting, he just happened to catch up with the Qinzhou cavalry who had been ushered into the hall by the palace guards. The military situation was reported on the ground.

However, because the military report he brought was too shocking, everyone in the conference hall was surprised, there was no reaction for a while, and naturally they did not notice the arrival of His Highness the Crown Prince.

The moment he heard his words clearly, Zhao Zhen's face was blank.

——The [-] Qinzhou garrison defeated [-] Tubo cavalry, killed [-] enemies, and the remnants have fled back to Tubo.Li Lizun, the commander in chief of the enemy army, also died under Di Qing's arrow.

After Zhao Zhen ordered him to repeat several times, his expression gradually turned calm, regretful and gloomy.

——If he hadn't heard such absurd nonsense, he would have already taken this dream seriously by virtue of the sticky and extremely realistic sweat on his body.

The author has something to say: Notes:

About Zhang Qi and Yang Chongxun.

Zhang Qi (formerly known as Zhang Min), was born in Kaifeng City, his family background is unknown, he probably belonged to an ordinary family.For some reason, at the age of 11, he was selected into the palace of Han Wang Yuanxiu (Zhao Heng) and became a child servant in personal service, or a servant.In addition to serving the prince, Zhang Qi also did a special thing for the prince that day.When Zhenzong was still in the East Palace, he once sighed to the people around him: I heard that the women in Shuzhong are beautiful and talented, and it would be great to have one someday!With the master's words, the people below naturally understood, and soon introduced the 15-year-old concubine Liu into the East Palace.It is because "a widow has a disease", the prince loves the young and beautiful newcomers doubly, and the Liu family is also "reluctant to miss Shu".Unexpectedly, this matter was reported to the emperor by the prince's wet nurse.Under Emperor Taizong's intervention, Zhao Heng had no choice but to agree to release the Liu family from the East Palace, but because he was reluctant to abandon the beautiful woman, he asked his personal accomplice Zhang Qi to bring the Liu family into his home for temporary protection.After the cautious Zhang Qi arranged Liu's board and lodging, in order to avoid the prince's suspicion, he never dared to go home again.After Zhenzong ascended the throne, Liu was admitted to the palace, and later promoted to queen.With such an opportunity, Zhang Qi established a special relationship with Empress Liu, which can be described as double insurance both inside and outside, so the official fortune was prosperous, so that he enjoyed all the glory and wealth throughout his life.

According to the rules of the official system of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Qi was awarded a military officer. Although he had never had obvious military exploits and did not understand military strategy, it did not affect his promotion.In the first year of Jingde (1004), the Song Dynasty ceased war with the Liao Dynasty and signed the Chanyuan Alliance. At this time, it was only seven years since Song Zhenzong ascended the throne. He was awarded the rank of observation envoy and became a senior general of the Forbidden Army.After that, due to the care of the emperor and the queen, he was promoted to the deputy commander of the Ma Jun of the guards.What needs to be said is that during the Northern Song Dynasty, the military had three commanding organizations: the Dianqian Division, the Guards' Ma Junsi, and the Guards' Infantry Division. The deputy commander in chief, the status is not low.But besides serving the emperor meticulously, he is not good at leading soldiers.Once, because of his improper handling of the selection of soldiers, he caused dissatisfaction among his subordinates and almost caused a mutiny. Zhenzong had to transfer him to be the deputy envoy of the Privy Council.The Privy Council is the highest military decision-making body, and its power is more important than the commander-in-chief of the Forbidden Army. He took the post of deputy head, and he was actually reused.In the future, probably due to lack of ability, the emperor had to arrange for him to go to the local yamen to rest, but he was given the prestigious title of Jiedushi and Pingzhang political affairs, the so-called "envoy".It should be known that envoy is the most prominent official title in the Song Dynasty, and his salary is higher than that of prime minister. With such treatment, Zhang Qi is living a comfortable life.

In the first year of Qianxing (1022), the young Renzong came to the throne, and Empress Liu became the powerful empress dowager and began to listen to politics behind the curtain.In order to repay Zhang Qi's support in the early years, after more than three years, Empress Dowager Liu promoted Zhang Qi to be a privy envoy and made him the highest military leader. .In addition, a huge mansion was built for him in Kaifeng City, with more than [-] houses in it.However, Zhang Qi, a general who reached a high position in the military by virtue of his clinging relationship, has no commendable military exploits to speak of, nor has he made any contribution to national defense.

According to the biography of "Song History", although he was rich, he was actually extremely stingy by nature, especially towards his own family.He actually set up a shop at home, and all the daily necessities needed by his family members and slaves were bought in his own shop, so that the rich and the water did not flow into the field of outsiders.He also knew some medical skills, so he personally checked the pulse of the people in the government and sold medicinal materials.It is no wonder that the scholars ridiculed him for doing so. Prime Minister Wang Zeng openly contemptuously scorned in front of the Queen Mother until the second year of Mingdao (1033) after the death of Queen Mother Liu and Renzong's personal administration, Zhang Qi left the Privy Council to protect the country. He was awarded the title of Xuzhou (now Xuchang, Henan) as the military governor, and later served as the governor of the six states, and was renamed Xu Guogong.In the end, Zhang Qi died after "An Yi Fu Sheng for more than 40 years".After Zhang Qi's death, the imperial court gave him a special gift of Taishi and a senior official in the court, but the court officials did not forget to give him the slightly derogatory posthumous title "Rongxi".

Yang Chongxun was born in a military family, and like Zhang Qi in his early years, he followed Zhenzong when he was the prince in the East Palace, so the two were old acquaintances and old partners.But he is still different from Zhang Qi, he was working as a guard back then, not as close to his master as Zhang Qi, and he has no special relationship with Empress Liu, so his promotion is not as fast as Zhang Jina.Yang Chongxun was more thoughtful than Zhang Qi, probably more eager for quick success, so he dared to do some sinister and speculative activities.Zhenzong was sick in his later years and often lost his mind. At this time, the prime minister Kou Zhun and the privy envoy Ding Wei had a fierce power struggle. Ding Wei had the support of Empress Liu behind him, which provided opportunities for speculators.When the situation was changing, Yang Chongxun quickly made a choice and sided with Ding Wei and Empress Liu who were more important.He informed Kou Zhun and the eunuchs of planning to support the crown prince and proclaim him emperor, that is, a coup d'etat, which provided an excuse for the downfall of Kou Zhun, thereby gaining the appreciation of those in power and rewarding him with the title of supervising envoy.In the early years of Renzong, when Empress Dowager Liu came to power, Yang Chongxun was naturally promoted. He served in important military positions such as Marquis of Yu in front of the Palace of Officials, and Commander in front of the Palace. command the army.In this regard, although both Yang Chongxun and Zhang Qi belonged to the people who climbed up and did not have much military merit, their conduct was even worse.

In the first year of Ming Dynasty (1032), Yang Chongxun served as a privy envoy.Speaking of which, the reason why he can take on this important position like Zhang Qi is also due to the support of Empress Dowager Liu.

Later, when the Liao Dynasty threatened the Song Dynasty by force to increase the annual currency, he took the initiative to invite Ying, and was selected by the court as a general to go to Dingzhou (now Dingzhou, Hebei Province), an important place in Hebei Province.But after he took office, he was old and incompetent, which caused dissatisfaction from the top and bottom, so he was transferred back to the mainland soon after.Later, he was ordered to retire because he was implicated in the crime of corruption by his unworthy son.In the fifth year of Qingli (1045), the elderly Yang Chongxun died of illness. Considering his status during his lifetime, the imperial court gave him the title of Taiwei according to the rules, and his posthumous title was "Gongyi", which was slightly better than Zhang Qi.On that day, when historians described his death, they did not forget to tell later generations about his temper and an interesting incident during his lifetime: "Sex is greedy and despicable". Red and white, transported to the capital market for profit.Really greedy nature is hard to change, even ministers don't want to be decent. ("Born in the Song Dynasty: Talking about the General Altar of Shilin in the Northern Song Dynasty")