Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

Lu Ci was keenly aware of what the courtiers were doing when they still had time to plan for official weddings, and they chose to do so at a time when the situation with the party was serious.

The most ideal situation, of course, is that there are plans in the temple, but externally, they don't want to see the people panic. They intend to use the matter of His Majesty's wedding to appease the people and ease the tension brought about by the war preparations.

Or, the court officials were worried about the imminent war in the northwest, and they were negative, so they followed the example of the late emperor before he went to the protracted war against Khitan. Zaifu Wangdan's practice: In order to ensure the integrity of the country, he persuaded the late emperor to appoint a prince .In this way, if a few years later, the official family really faced the decision of the late emperor that they needed to go to the imperial conquest, there would still be blood left behind.

But in addition to these two assumptions, there is one possibility that Lu Ci is most worried about—that is, the arrogance of Jingchen. This "small country" is in the eyes, and it is determined that once the two forces are at war, the party will undoubtedly lose.

Affected by this mentality of underestimating the enemy, they don't value future battles, so they have the leisure to arrange royal weddings.

Thinking of this, Lu Ci couldn't help frowning.

If it's the latter, it's going to be a big deal.

The 'contempt' signal sent by Bianjing will soon be caught by local officials who are good at figuring out what they want.

It is only this conjecture that coincides with the results of those proposals that he sent to Beijing one after another in the past few months, as long as it involves "pre-emptive strikes and using troops against Li Yuanhao who is busy with rectifying internal affairs as soon as possible".

I'm afraid it's due to the fact that the party item has been delayed, and it's also reported that Li Yuanhao was opposed by a group of patriarchs, and he was in a state of desperation... These news calmed down the original indignant officials, and gradually changed their mentality, fantasizing about defeating others without fighting.

But the longer this drags on, the more stable Li Yuanhao's heels will be, and the more unfavorable it will be for Da Song.

In the early morning, it was just after the snow, and as the warm spring was approaching, the clothes wrapped around Lu Ci's body also decreased a lot.

Today, wearing only a light robe and a large cloak, he climbed onto the city wall and inspected it himself to make sure that the craftsmen maintained the new cannons placed at the top of the city correctly.

Seeing that everything was going smoothly and orderly, Lu Ci relaxed slightly.

He raised his eyes, looked silently at the direction of Xiping Mansion where Li Yuanhao was now, and fell into deep thought.

——22 years ago, it still belonged to Lingzhou in Song Dynasty!

Lu Ci sighed softly.

At that time, Li Jiqian took advantage of the situation to expand the Song Dynasty and took the Lingzhou area forcefully. In order to ensure nothing was lost, he even moved the capital here the next year, which is extremely important.

This move of his can definitely be called a torch of insight, which has fully strengthened the strength of the party.

For the Song Dynasty, Lingzhou was located in a remote place, and the harm of the fall was not obvious at first, but as time went by, it became like a thorn in the throat.

This not only means that Song Dynasty has lost its control over the northwest region, but also because Lingzhou is a very fertile horse breeding land in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, the predicament of Song Dynasty's lack of horses has suddenly intensified.

It is no wonder that Li Yuanhao thinks that the time is ripe, so full of confidence.

In this period when hot weapons headed by artillery were not yet mature, it was unimaginable that Dangxiang and Tubo, which dominated the northwest, could have the advantages of a huge cavalry army with horses on their feet, superb riding skills, and excellent shooting skills. .

All soldiers who had confronted Khitan or Xixia knew that once the infantry faced the well-trained cavalry directly without the cover of a fortress, even if they would not be slaughtered, they were doomed to suffer heavy casualties.

In addition to the loss of valuable soldiers, morale will also be indelibly damaged, and it is easy to fear the cavalry.

Looking at the Song Dynasty again, Cao Wei was the only one who dared to formulate risky tactics and force the infantry to defeat the cavalry to overcome this fear.

However, no matter how powerful Cao Wei is, he still lacks the skills to divide his body, so he can only restrain one side.If you really want to rush to help, you don't dare to stay too far away, lest you fall into the trick of diverting the tiger away from the mountain.

However, in Lu Ci's view, even if the cunning Li Yuanhao is full of confidence, he will definitely go after the soft persimmon.

Will Qinzhou be a persimmon in Li Yuanhao's eyes?

For a while, even Lu Ci, who had been actively preparing for the battle, didn't know whether he wanted "yes" or "no".

As the battle approached, he became more anxious.

It's just that as Lu Jiedu, who is guarding this road, and the planner who intensified the contradiction between the two forces and led to the advance of this war, no matter how uneasy and suffering he feels, he will never show it in front of others and shake people's hearts.

After accumulating so much day after day, it will explode soon after all.

Lu Ci let out a long breath of depression.

For more than three years, day and night, he, Teng Zongliang and other friends have put in so much effort and effort to the originally desolate Qinzhou, and experienced countless turmoil, only to have the prosperous scene it is today.

Looking at the simple and joyful smiles of the people on the street; seeing the busyness of every family from morning to night, and the houses in the outer city rising one after another, everyone is full of hope for the future; the visitor...

Thinking of this, Lu Ci couldn't help but feel unbearable, and closed his eyes gently.

It is conceivable that once a war breaks out, even if the city can be defended, the price will inevitably be high.

These scenes that he gradually became familiar with must be difficult to see again in the next few years.

——How could he bear it?

But if you ask yourself, apart from his strong advocacy of continuously adding fortifications, training soldiers, and winning the support of surrounding tribes... Qinzhou, which has never slackened its preparations for the battle, the only one he dares to trust is Weizhou guarded by Cao Wei. .

As for the other states and counties under his jurisdiction, and even Linlu...he didn't dare to have too much expectation.

If Li Yuanhao was allowed to pick out those who were weak in defense and launch a fierce offensive, those prefectures and counties that were obedient and negligent in preparing for war would most likely not be able to resist.

Just as Lu Ci was worried about, Li Yuanhao, who was located in the Xiping Mansion, had never been idle for half a day, but was steadily removing obstacles that were not beneficial to his power.

Because of the dishonorable way of succeeding to the throne, he was naturally disgusted by a group of uncles who either had their own ghosts or trusted Li Deming. Among them, Zhao Shanyu had the most violent reaction.

And from the moment he learned that Zhao Shanyu had secretly escaped with his family, Li Yuanhao, who was stimulated by this betrayal, was furious, and completely tore off his disguise and changed into a hideous face.

He no longer has the patience to be violent, talking nonsense with these leaders who are chattering, threatening, and aggressive, but straightforwardly led a team of elite soldiers to kill Zhao Shanyuren and go to Loukong's mansion, and burn everything .

After that, they arrested Zhao Shanyu's collateral relatives who stayed in the party one by one, and chose a day to kill them together in public.

More than 100 human skulls rolled to the ground, blood flowed into a river at the street corner, and all the viewers were silent like cicadas.

But Li Yuanhao sent troops to force the leaders to come, and Li Yuanhao, who had watched the whole process of the execution, was always frosty, and only said this sentence before he left: "If you want to leave, please go clean, lest I need to go out in person. Clean up for you."

That night, when the terrified leaders chose to defect, Li Yuanhao, who was blocked on the only way to pass, raised a knife and killed them one by one.

After suppressing the opposing forces by bloody means, Li Yuanhao did not stop at all, promoted the leaders of the soldiers around him, and immediately increased his troops.

After doubling the number of troops and causing the people to suffer, he turned a deaf ear to the people's grievances that were about to boil, and went westward with a thunderbolt. Within a month, he captured Guazhou, intending to kill and Suzhou March.

The news of this good news, and the deliberate publicity of the troops placed by Li Yuanhao, instantly made the party members rejoice, and even the brutal torture that was terrifying before seemed to be temporarily forgotten.

At this moment, Lu Ci felt that a breakthrough was coming.

He quickly summoned Zhang Kang, and the two of them worked together for a while, and soon made a plan.

This time, Zhang Kang, who is still determined to win, went to Tubo, but he no longer covered his head, but generously acted as an envoy of Qinzhou, and under the order of Lu Jiedu, he went to make peace with Tubo Prime Minister Wen Buqi of.

Wen Buqi, who had not been able to wait for the Song envoy for a long time, finally settled down after hearing the news, and met Zhang Kang in person without hesitation.

Zhang Kang's heart is firm. Even this eagle face, who is not angry but powerful and has held the authority of Tubo for more than ten years, has not shaken him in the slightest. He is still smiling and speaking in very standard Tubo dialect: "Ru Jing Envoy Zhang Kang, thank you Lun Bu for your interview."

Wen Buqi, who didn't know much about the official positions in the Song Dynasty, although he felt that the term "Ru Jingshi" was very unfamiliar, he wanted to inquire about it.

Instead, Zhang Kang greeted him in Tubo dialect, which made him involuntarily feel good. He nodded with a smile, and reciprocated with a strange Chinese accent: "You have come from a long way, you have worked hard. You might as well first Rest for a few days, and then I will prepare a banquet and entertain you well."

But Zhang Kang bluntly declined: "Thank you for your kindness, it's just that the situation is urgent, and it's not too late to talk about changing cups and cups for a later date."

"Oh?"

This made Wen Buqi quite puzzled, and he replied bluntly: "If the key point of your concern is the party, they are busy with the western expedition these days, so what's the rush?"

Zhang Kang smiled: "What the Song Dynasty is anxious about is that the lips and teeth are close, and the lips are dead and the teeth are cold. But in the eyes of the lower officials, the most urgent thing at present is actually to talk about it!"

As soon as these words came out, Wen Buqi was greatly astonished.

Seeing that Zhang Kang was so swearing, he didn't seem to be aiming at nothing, or he was deliberately alarmist, so he frowned and asked patiently: "Where did you say that?"

Zhang Kang said with a smile: "Lunbu should be more clear than the lower officials - Dangxiang has already packed up Huihe, occupied Xiagan, Liangzhou and other places, and now he has Guazhou, which is even more powerful. Look at him all the way like a broken bamboo, killing and suppressing Most of the two prefectures are also in the bag, and then there will be only the Hexi Corridor between Qingtang, where Lunbu is based?"

Wen Buqi was noncommittal.

There is only one Hexi Corridor, but if Li Yuanhao wasn't so stupid, he wouldn't dare to act rashly.

The hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Tubo are not in vain.

Besides, Li Yuanhao, who killed his brother and imprisoned his father, seemed to him to be happy, but his foundation was only so shallow, and it was all there.

If his father Li Deming is given a few more years to run around and save his face to accumulate more supplies, then Li Yuanhao may be able to be arrogant for a long time... But now it is seen that this is both an increase in troops and a posture of expansion, I am afraid it will not be possible How long will it take to be defeated.

The so-called supporting war with war must be based on the premise that there is no shortage of food.

Most of the western suburbs are barren, and people live on nomads.

Even those fertile grasslands were used to raise precious war horses, so where would they be used for farming?

The party is short of food, and Guazhou, which was laid down, is also short of food.

Dangxiang's seemingly majestic trilogy will sooner or later face the situation of running out of grass and food.

Li Yuanhao's move is a clever way to divert internal attention, but if he wants to use it for a long time, it is tantamount to nonsense.

However, Wen Buqi admitted that it was one thing for him not to believe what Zhang Kang said, but another for him to express it.

In the final analysis, he intends to make peace with Song Ting, which can be regarded as overshadowing the festival between the two parties that killed [-] good sons when Li Lizun violated Qinzhou.

So he didn't show it on his face, but after he figured it out, the smile on his face became wider, and he patiently listened to Zhang Kang's next narration.

The author has something to say: Li Yuanhao first conquered Guazhou, Shazhou and Suzhou, from Chapter 5p159-162 of "Political History of the Northern Song Dynasty"